Pep Guardiola ended a long day of work with some light relief at Wembley.
The Manchester City manager had been animated as he watched his team’s 1-0 win over Brighton to book a place in the FA Cup final, and while his touch line demeanour was not necessarily out of the ordinary it was a surprise to see him go onto the pitch at full-time and give Raheem Sterling the Nathan Redmond treatment.
Guardiola could be seen in the City player’s face after the final whistle, making sure he got his point across before they had made it to the confines of dressing room.
At the end of a press conference where the Blues boss both made clear his team can do better but also hit out at unrealistic expectations on them, he was asked what had been said to Sterling.
“He bought 500 tickets for the kids and I said thank you for this gesture,” he started before grinning and adding: “Do you believe me? You have to say no!”
Man City's Raheem Sterling hailed as a 'trailblazer' after winning sportsman of the year award
