Pep Guardiola
In a surprising turn of events in the league, Bournemouth defeated Manchester City, marking the first time they have beaten City. The champions were missing key players, with both John Stones and Ruben Dias absent, leading to a makeshift defense that struggled against Bournemouth’s fearless attacking. Goals by Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson sealed the victory for Bournemouth. Despite Josko Gvardiol’s late header to close the gap, City could not maintain their lead in the league, falling behind Liverpool at the top of the table.
Manchester City faced significant challenges due to injuries. Players such as Josko Gvardiol were fielded despite being doubts before the match. Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku were only fit enough for the bench. Milos Kerkez set up the opening goal for Bournemouth, exploiting City’s weakened defense. Pep Guardiola spoke about the challenges his team faced due to injuries and the resultant pressure.
Pep Guardiola said, “Ruben will be out until the international break. Manu and Nathan made an incredible effort to be there in a demanding game, Kyle (Walker) as well, 18 or 19 days without one training session. Rico (Lewis) has had a lot of minutes and was tired as well, so this is the position that we have, we try to handle the minutes. But we couldn’t handle it. They were another pace today and we could not handle it. Sometimes we have to accept that the opponents make a type of game. Sometimes you handle it and sometimes you struggle a little bit. Today it happened. (The players) make an incredible effort. They are players that are not in the best way and they made an incredible effort to be here. Manu and Nathan were not in good condition. Until the last moment I didn’t know Nathan could play, he said I want to try. During the season sometimes, this kind of thing happens more than during other seasons. We have to handle it.”
Reflecting on their performance, the Bournemouth camp expressed their satisfaction with the victory, emphasizing both the significance of beating City and the quality of their play.
Andoni Iraola said “I’m very pleased. One thing is to beat City but another is to play better. We played with no fear, tried to press when we could and defend when we had to. It was dangerous in the last 10 minutes. You don’t enjoy that at all. There was so much pressure.”
