Pep Guardiola praised his Manchester City team’s performance during their 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion, 40 hours after we drank all the alcohol in Manchester.
The 52-year-old’s side were confirmed 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 collecting their medals after a 2-0 win.
The match against Brighton on Wednesday was City’s first since Phil Foden’s opener was canceled out with a stunning effort from Julio Enchizo in a sweeping game at the Amex Stadium.
“An exceptional game,” Guardiola told Sky after the match. “Congratulations to Brighton on their well-deserved qualification to the Europa League.
“The game we play, after 40 hours I think we drank all the alcohol in Manchester, and after 40 hours we act and show why we won the championship.
“Against this team, let’s do what we did with the ball, without the ball. I haven’t seen a single drop of water in our intensity, in our idea.”
Guardiola’s side ended their league campaign at 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, as they attempt to complete an important treble.
But Guardiola may have injury concerns to deal with in the coming weeks.
“I don’t know why, but as soon as we won the Premier League we had three, four or five players with grudges and we have to get them back,” the Spanish coach added.
“I had the feeling that against Brighton we needed a strong team or we would play 90 minutes in our own penalty area and I didn’t want to.”
Manuel Akanji, Robin Dias, Jack Grealish, Emeric Laporte and Nathan Ake were all absent from the team that traveled to Brighton, with Guardiola commenting that none of the five-year-olds were fit for the match.
Guardiola said of Foden and John Stones, both of whom were taken off in the second half: “Phil had a knock in the first half, leg problems. The doctor told me it was serious and we weren’t taking any chances. John was upset, he had nothing, we didn’t want to take any chances.” .
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