Guardiola ‘doesn’t agree’ with Gundogan over Spurs defeat

Matt Stead

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has refuted the comments made by midfielder Ilkay Gundogan in the wake of their Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat to Tottenham.

Gundogan suggested that City were “too nervous” in the Champions League and also “always make the wrong decisions”. The Germany international claimed City’s reaction to their penalty miss was not that of a big team.

“I don’t agree with him, absolutely not,” F-bomb-dropping Guardiola said in his press conference on Friday.

“In the second half it was under control. Our game at Tottenham was much better than Schalke. Sergio reacted incredibly well to the penalty, the team was mentally strong.”

Guardiola also provided an update on the fitness of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Bernardo Silva, with both doubtful for the clash with Crystal Palace on Sunday.

“They are feeling better but I don’t know if they are going to be fit for Sunday,” Guardiola added.

The City boss is wary of the threat posed by Crystal Palace, who produced a shock 3-2 win at the Etihad in December.

“They are really well organised and they have players up front who can do actions one v one, three v three,” Guardiola said.

“We have six games left and we’re going to prepare well.”