Pep Guardiola has praised his Manchester City’s performance in the 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion “40 hours after we drank all the alcohol in Manchester”.
The 52-year-old’s side were confirmed as Premier League champions on Saturday following Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest. City then played Chelsea on Sunday, lifting the Premier League trophy and claiming the medals after beating 2-0.
Wednesday’s game against Brighton was City’s first since, with Phil Foden’s opening goal canceled out by a stunning performance from Julio Enciso in an end-to-end contest at the Amex Stadium.
“Extraordinary game,” said Guardiola after the game on Sky. “Congratulations to Brighton on qualifying for the Europa League.
“The game we played, 40 hours after I think we drank all the alcohol in Manchester, 40 hours later we behaved and showed why we are champions.”
“Against this team we have to do what we did with the ball, without the ball. I didn’t see a drop of water in our intensity, in our idea.”
Guardiola’s side finish their league season in Brentford on Sunday, followed by the FA Cup final against rivals Manchester United on June 3 and the Champions League final against Inter Milan a week later, in which they attempt to achieve a meaningful treble .
But Guardiola could face injury concerns in the coming weeks.
“I don’t know why but once we won the Premier League we had three, four, five players with weaknesses and we have to restore them,” added the Spaniard.
“I felt we needed a strong team against Brighton or we would play 90 minutes in our box and I didn’t want that.”
Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish, Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake were all absent from the squad that traveled to Brighton, with Guardiola noting that none of the quintets were fit for the game.
Referring to Foden and John Stones, both of whom were substituted in the second half, Guardiola said: “Phil had a hit in the first half, a problem in his leg. The doctor told me it was dangerous and we didn’t take any chances. John felt tight, he had nothing, we didn’t want to take any chances.”
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(Photo: Getty Images)