Pep Guardiola has insisted Manchester Metropolis will not be experiencing a character disaster as he hit back at former Manchester United stars Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov.
The Metropolis supervisor was riled by criticism from Evra and Berbatov, who each work as pundits, after Metropolis surrendered a profitable place towards Actual Madrid within the Champions League semi-finals.
Evra claimed Guardiola “can’t train people with personality”, whereas Berbatov supplied a response that was not removed from Guardiola’s personal evaluation, albeit saying Metropolis “had to be more concentrated and focused” within the closing moments.
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There was additionally criticism from former Madrid star Clarence Seedorf, who stated Metropolis lacked the mandatory “mentality” to return by means of such a check, evaluating them to Paris Saint-Germain.
Metropolis have been 5-3 forward on mixture going into the closing minutes towards Madrid on Might 4, solely to concede a quickfire double to Rodrygo, earlier than Karim Benzema hit a penalty winner in further time.
It was a dizzying turnaround at the Santiago Bernabeu, however Metropolis have responded by thrashing Newcastle United 5-0 and selecting aside Wolves 5-1 to reassert their Premier League supremacy over Champions League finalists Liverpool.
Guardiola denies Metropolis have any points with their perspective, saying the strategy that introduced the back-to-back heavy league wins was “the same character that lost to Madrid in the last two or three minutes”.
“The former players, like Dimitar Berbatov, Clarence Seedorf, Patrice Evra … these type of people they were there,” Guardiola advised a information convention forward of Metropolis’s match towards West Ham on Sunday.
“I played against them and I didn’t see this kind of personality when we destroyed them in the Champions League final against United.”
That was a reference to Guardiola’s Barcelona beating United 2-0 within the 2009 remaining, when Evra and Berbatov each featured on the dropping group at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
The groups additionally met at the identical stage in 2011, however Berbatov was not concerned in that recreation, which Barcelona received 3-1.
“[They say] we don’t have personality because we concede in the last minutes, and after the last two games we have personality,” Guardiola stated.
“Personality is what we have done in the last five years. Maybe Liverpool is going to win all four titles, or just one. Am I going to say they don’t have personality or that they had a bad season?
“In fact they’ve (character), and in fact they’re good, however generally in soccer, it occurs.
“It is football, you cannot control it. When you always arrive in the latter stages, semi-finals, finals, it is incredible.
“This for me, as a result of we arrive till the tip, taking part in a whole lot of video games, that is an important factor.”