“We destroyed them in UCL final”: Pep Guardiola fires shots at Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov


“We destroyed them in UCL final”: Pep Guardiola fires shots at Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov

Pep Guardiola, Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov

Manchester City lost in the second leg of the UEFA champions league semi-finals against Real Madrid in a dramatic fashion. Guardiola’s team has failed to make the finals in spite of having a first-leg advantage. They conceded two goals in one minute and ultimately ended up losing the tie in the stoppage time. A brace from Rodrigo and the decisive penalty of Karim Benzema was enough for the 13th-time winners to seal their place in the finals.

ADVERTISEMENT

Manchester City is on the verge of securing another much-coveted premier league title after the defeat against Madrid. They have scored 10 goals in two games and bounced back in style.

Ever since Man City‘s defeat, Pep’s men have been heavily criticized by football pundits, former players, and the viewers. City collapsing in the penultimate minutes has resulted in Guardiola being scrutinized by former Manchester United players Patrice Evra and Berbatov. Former Real Madrid midfielder Clarence Seedorf also doubted Man City‘s capability and mentality post the defeat versus Madrid.

The ex-Man United Left-back labeled Man City as a team lacking personality and character. The Bulgarian super striker Berbatov doubted the mentality and focus of the City side and said Guardiola’s side had a ”small team” mentality.

ADVERTISEMENT

Read More: Who has won the most FA Cups? Five most successful football clubs in the world’s oldest competition

Pep Guardiola’s response to Evra and Berbatov

Irritated by the comments of the ex-Manchester United footballers, Pep lashed out in a press conference reminding them of UCL final thrashing in 2009 and 2011. He said that they never doubted their personality and character when Guardiola‘s Barca defeated Manchester United in the UCL finals twice in three years. Berbatov and Evra were part of the then United team.

He said, “Specialist former players like Berbatov, Seedorf, and Evra and these types of people weren’t there. I’ve played against them, and I didn’t see this kind of personality when we destroyed United in the Champions League final.”

“You cannot have personality because you concede two goals in one minute after you have chances to score? And after the last four games we scored 19 goals so we have incredible personalities and these kinds of things? I’m sorry but I completely disagree. Personality is what we have done in the last five years every three days in all competitions,” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Guardiola further stated that losing games in the Champions League doesn’t mean that one doesn’t have any “character or personality” but it is what happens in the game in general.

“Maybe Liverpool is going to win all four titles or maybe just one but I’m going to say that they don’t have personality and character, they didn’t do an incredible season even when they lost the Premier League by one or two points to us? They don’t have character and personality? Of course, they do,” continued Pep.

“Sometimes, football is like this and it just happens. We cannot control many things but when you always arrive in the last stages for four or five years, chapeau. This is incredible. We arrive until the end playing good because otherwise, you don’t arrive. This is the most important thing,” concluded the City manager.

Also Read: “The best striker in the world”- Antonio Rudiger on soon to be teammate Karim Benzema

ADVERTISEMENT