Pep Guardiola has appeared to aim a thinly-veiled broadside at Liverpool over the manner of their celebrations after the Carabao Cup final triumph on Sunday.
The Reds overcame a top-heavy injury list – compounded by Ryan Gravenberch being forced off at Wembley – to defeat Chelsea after extra time, with several inexperienced academy youngsters on the pitch for the finish to the game.
Speaking to the press ahead of Manchester City’s FA Cup tie at Luton tonight, the Spaniard seemed to aim a dig at us over the post-match scenes of ecstasy at the weekend.
Guardiola said (via HaytersTV): “I remember when I arrived at City, Brian Kidd told me: ‘Ah, Carabao Cup, don’t pay attention! Play the young players, nobody cares.’ Sir Alex Ferguson was always [saying] ‘Ah, it doesn’t matter’. Phwoar, I don’t know what happened in the last [few] years!”
It’s hard to escape the feeling that he was throwing shade at Liverpool with those comments, although Pep might need some reminding about his own history in the Carabao Cup.
We highly doubt that he’d have been so dismissive of the tournament when he won it for four years in a row from 2018 to 2021, and we can’t imagine him doing celebratory cartwheels in the away dressing room at St James’ Park after Newcastle knocked City out of the competition last September.
Guardiola’s remarks will make it all the sweeter if – and admittedly it’s a big if – we can dethrone his side as Premier League champions in May, just as we did in emphatic fashion four years ago.
Check out the clip of Guardiola below (from 5:40), via HaytersTV on YouTube:
Its nothing to do with Liverpool. He has gone big on every competition City have been in. Now other teams who dismissed it in the past are taking it seriously and its worth winning as shown last weekend.
Fakes having respect for Klopp and LFC of course you do👍😡