Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on Sunday refused to be drawn on the controversy surrounding Liverpool’s opening goal in a 3-1 loss at Anfield which left his side nine points behind the leaders in the English Premier League.
Liverpool rightback Trent Alexander-Arnold appeared to handle the ball inside the penalty area, but instead of a City penalty, the hosts broke and 22 seconds later Fabinho blasted in the opening goal.
Guardiola was enraged on the touchline, as was Sergio Aguero on the pitch, and after the final whistle he shook hands with Liverpool’s players before seeking out the match officials and saying: “Thank you so much” — his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Photo: Reuters
The incident proved a turning point in Liverpool’s victory which opened up a nine-point lead over reigning champions City, who are fourth, a point behind Chelsea and Leicester City.
Asked for his opinion on the opening goal, Guardiola pointedly would not discuss it.
“Ask to the referees, don’t ask to me,” Guardiola told Sky Sports. “Ask to [referees chief] Mike Riley and the guys in the VAR [video assistant referee], don’t ask to me.”
Guardiola preferred to talk about what he described as an “incredible” display by his beaten side.
“What happened today was we showed why we are the champions,” he said. “In this stadium to play the way we played was incredible, so I’m so proud of my team more than ever. Against the strongest team in Europe, so proud.”
Asked whether a nine-point gap could be bridged to a side that has not lost in 29 Premier League games, Guardiola said he was “not a magician.”
“We tried to do our job and I would like to talk about our performance, which was so good,” he said. “The way we played was awesome, one of the best performances.”
“There is still seven months and if Liverpool win I will be the first to congratulate them because we can’t deny how good they are,” he said. “The way they play and create chances, and the personality to play all the time. It was an honor for both teams to show the Premier League to spectators this type of game.”
Alexander-Arnold admitted the ball had struck his arm, but said it had hit City midfielder Bernardo Silva’s arm first.
“We know there’s VAR, but you have to carry on playing, they complained, but you have to keep on playing. We went down the other end and punished them,” he said.
Silva also declined to talk about the opening goal, but said City would fight until the end.
“We’ve been in this position last season, we will never give up,” Silva said. “We’re only in November, and they still have to play at the Etihad and there are plenty of games to play. We are not in the ideal position, or the one we’d want to be, we have to improve.”
Elsewhere, Manchester United beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1, while Wolverhampton Wanderers defeated Aston Villa 2-1 in the West Midlands derby.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but