Pep Guardiola told his Manchester City players that he was proud of them after their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Community Shield. Jurgen Klopp’s side started the stronger and earned a first-half lead when Nathan Ake could only glance in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s effort, but Julian Alvarez pounced to get City back into the game in the second half. However, Mohamed Salah converted a penalty eight minutes from time after Ruben Dias handled a Darwin Nunez header and the new Liverpool signing then headed home to seal the victory. Guardiola congratulated Liverpool for the victory but was happy with the performance of his side as they prepare for the defence of their Premier League title, starting at West Ham next Sunday.
Pep Guardiola said: “Congratulations to Liverpool, in the first 15-20 minutes they were better with their pace. And then after we got our game and the last 20-25 minutes were quite similar. We started the second half really well, after the goal our game was there and we were really good and confident against this team. Even in the first half we created enough chances to do it and after one action was clear, then you lose the ball and they make the transition and the penalty, and after it was more difficult. We have [only] two weeks and a little bit since we started so we cannot expect [too much] but in general they gave everything. I said to the players after how proud I was that they gave everything. We have to improve and the timing is not much what we have to do, especially for the fact that we need a long week of training games to get our tempo and we will do it.”
