Liverpool’s thrashing at the hands of Manchester City cannot be blamed on their title celebrations, said Pep Guardiola, after his team beat the new champions 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
City put on a guard of honour for the newly crowned kings of the Premier League but showed no deference on the pitch, with goals by Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden, as well as an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal, completing the win.
Video on social media showed Liverpool’s players, staff and manager celebrating exuberantly after capturing the club’s first league title for 30 years, and they seemed a little off the pace, but Guardiola insisted it was no excuse.
“I think they drank a lot of beers in the last week,” Guardiola smiled. “But they arrive here without beer in their blood to play against us. So that’s why I give us a lot of credit for what we’ve done.
“We beat the champions, an extraordinary team. They are the best team I’ve faced in my life at high pressing. The way they use that mechanism is incredible. They are brave to play, we are brave to play. They had a good chance with [Mohamed] Salah at the start, but after that we played very well.”
While Sterling and Foden both impressed, De Bruyne was the star of the show once again, earning man of the match for his peerless performance.
Guardiola said: “Kevin what can I say, there are players like him who speak for himself in the way they play every single game. The quality, the vision. An important player for us, for the Premier League and for this club.”
