Sunday’s derby between Manchester City and Liverpool ended in a 1-1 draw. The match saw old rivals Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp battle against each other once more. City manager Pep Guardiola praised his team for securing the draw.
A disputed encounter
Liverpool will be indeed the side less happy with the result. A victory would have seen them move past City and into third place. It looked like things were going Liverpool’s way when James Milner scored from the spot against his former team. Sergio Aguero scored the equalizer in the 69th minute. In the last minutes of the game both teams enjoyed goal chances through Adam Lallana and Aguero respectively.
An absorbing game at the Etihad as the points are shared! #cityvlfc #mcfc pic.twitter.com/S9XFBiWETa
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 19, 2017
Pep Guardiola was surprisingly happy with the result. The manager says that taking into account City’s recent elimination from the Champions League, as well as the opportunity to defend third place, the result is a positive one. Guardiola did talk about his team’s need to improve in front of goal.
“You cannot imagine. It is one of happiest days of my career as a manager. I am so proud.After the Champions League, the last few days at training people were so, so, sad and people don’t talk too much. We arrive here against Liverpool who have no Europe all season and one week to prepare. The spirit, how we played, it is one of my happiest days as a manager,” Guardiola declared to Sky Sports.
“We created more than them. Our problem is we don’t score goals, easy goals, but at least we showed the spirit we didn’t show at Monaco, which is why we went out. We created five clear chances and didn’t score and that’s why we were out.”
Klopp, the less happy of the two managers
Elsewhere, Jurgen Klopp seemed disappointed to have not left with all three points. Liverpool has played particularly well this season against the top English teams. They won 20 points in 10 games played against teams that were in the top 6 positions.
“It’s difficult to make an assessment,” the manager told Sky Sports. “A point at City is absolutely okay and there were a few situations when we couldn’t defend their quality, but we could have won this game.”
“Their goalkeeper [Willy Caballero] made a few outstanding saves and then we had this phase around the second half, 50 to 70 minutes, when we had them but didn’t close the game in this moment. We let them a little bit recover on the pitch so they came back with their quality and they deserved to score. We could have scored more. “
“Our attitude was outstanding, and there was a lot of good football from two highly motivated sides, with chances until the last second. It was good and we can build on the performance. Tomorrow I’ll be happy but now I’m a bit disappointed, but not a lot.”
A solid shift from both sides. pic.twitter.com/exgNGruQ6y
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 19, 2017
Stiff competition at the top of the League
City and Liverpool remain in third and fourth place repsectively. Both teams are out of European competitions and will be able to concentrate on the Premier League. With the season moving well into it’s second half, the competition is getting tougher for a place in next year’s Champions League. Manchester United’s victory against Middlesbrough sees them move into fifth place. Arsenal and Everton are in sixth and seventh place with the same number of points.
