Pep Guardiola’s wheel had generated quite a bit of expectation. He was expected to respond to José Mourinho’s strong accusations.
“He won six Premier Leagues and I three, but I did it fairly. When I lose, I want to congratulate my rival because he was better than me. What I don’t want is to have to be pending 115 complaints for skipping the Financial Fair Play,” assured the now Fenerbahçe coach.
The Belgian midfielder has not renewed and avoids talking about his continuity at Manchester City
To know the response from the City coach we will have to wait at least a few hours. The appearance of the former Barcelona and Bayern player revolved, above all, around Kevin de Bruyne. The 33-year-old Belgian had not been playing much in recent weeks, after recovering from injury, and his contract expires in 2025.
Guardiola, however, has once again insisted that he has no problem with ‘KDB’. On the contrary. “There are players whose impact and legacy at Manchester City will be eternal, forever. It is not easy, but as a club we have to find, when it happens, the best way [de sustituirlos]”.
There are players whose impact and legacy at Manchester City will be eternal, forever
Pep Guardiola
“I don’t know. I’m not involved in that,” he suggested when asked about the extension of the Belgian’s contract. He has, however, made a wish out loud: “I would like him to be 23 years old and sign a contract for 10 seasons. That’s what I would like, but we’ll see.”
Kevin was instrumental with a double and an assist in Manchester City’s victory over Crystal Palace and Pep did not hold back a single compliment for the Belgian.
De Bruyne, the starter, was key (goal and assist) for City to break their seven-game winless streak against Nottingham Forest (3-0). The long list of absences (Rodri, Foden, Aké, Bobb, Stones and Kovacic). Everything suggests that the former Chelsea, Genk and Wolfsburg player could repeat as a starter against Crystal Palace, but Guardiola did not want to give any clues.
“We don’t have many players, but it’s important that he comes back. We’ll see how he reacts to playing every three days with this number of games…” Pep concluded.
