Man City boss Pep Guardiola has defended his players after officially succumbing to Liverpool in the race to land the Premier League title. The Catalan coach reiterated his side’s domestic dominance in recent years – claiming back-to-back league titles alongside multiple triumphs in the EFL Cup and FA Cup. He explained how difficult it is to maintain that level of success in England and how he is confident they will challenge Liverpool next season.
Pep Guardiola said “I don’t know the passion of Liverpool, I guess. I imagine what happens when you are three-zero years without winning the Premier League, after winning the Champions League you are focused, But a team that wins eight titles out of the last 10 have passion for every single competition. It is so difficult to do what we have done in the most difficult league in the world but you cannot win all the time. We arrived after four titles maybe thinking ‘ok we have more time’ but remember the way we dropped points in the second game in the league against Tottenham it was many, many, many things in the beginning when we dropped points when it was a little bit tricky – and Liverpool didn’t make a mistake. It wasn’t the perfect season for us after what happened in the previous two seasons but there are teams that are worse than us and one team was exceptional. We can say learn from them and congratulate them but this team has the desire to keep going otherwise it would not be possible to do what we have done in the previous seasons.”
