Pep Guardiola has seemingly had a dig at comments made by Mauricio Pochettino after Manchester City’s draw with Chelsea.
City were held to a 1-1 stalemate at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League. Raheem Sterling opened the scoring for the London club in the first half, and it took a Rodri strike in the final minutes of the contest to rescue a point for Guardiola’s team.
The draw means City are now four points behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League table. City’s game in hand comes against Brentford in midweek, before travelling to face Bournemouth next weekend.
Pochettino spoke to BBC Match of the Day after the game, where he explained how “pleased” and “proud” he was of Chelsea’s performance. The remarks from Pochettino were put to Guardiola, and the City boss appeared to aim a dig at the Chelsea manager.
“Good, congratulations,” Guardiola told BBC Match of the Day when informed of Pochettino’s comments. “If he believes that, that is good for his team.”
“We knew it [Chelsea would be a challenge],” Guardiola added. “That was a good game.
“We played incredible in the second half. The first half was not our levels but to compete against them teams you have to play 90 minutes not just one half.”
Pochettino explained why he was happy with Chelsea’s performance against City, particularly in the first half. The former Tottenham Hotspur boss went on to label City as the best team in world football with his analysis of the performance.
“I’m so pleased. I told the players I feel so proud,” said Pochettino. “In the last three games we’ve started to create a very good spirit. That’s the way we want to build our team. Today was a very good opportunity to show we’re going where we want.
“The first half was really, really good. We only conceded one chance – against a team like Manchester City who, for me, are the best team in the world.
“In the second half they force you to go deep, but we created chances to score the second goal and things could have been different. It’s important that the players realise that football is really competitive and to reach the level we want, we need to suffer.”