Guardiola has launched a verbal attack at Liverpool's Sadio Mane ahead of next weekend's Premier League showdown. The Spanish manager has criticised the winger's 'diving' antics which, he labeled as the winger's 'special talent'.
Liverpool, who still remains atop the league table after 11 outings, were made to fight back after conceding a controversial Trezeguet opener inside the 21st minute. However, an 87th-minute header by Andrew Robertson brought the game to parity before Sadio Mane clinched the game-winner in the 94th-minute.
Relatively, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City was stunned in the 13th-minute by Southampton's James Ward-Prowse before Sergio Aguero eased tensions with the equaliser in the 70th -minute. Four minutes away from full-time, Kyle Walker sparked a frenzy at the Etihad by scoring City's second of the game and the eventual game-winner.
In Guardiola's post-match reaction to the day's affair, the Spanish manager commended his side's creativity despite only managing to score at the later part of proceedings. In a rather extraordinary fashion, the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona manager criticized Liverpool's Sadio Mane for his theatrics in games albeit praising the Senegalese attacker's efficiency in front of goal.
"It's happened a lot for Liverpool in the last years [socring late on] it's because he's a special talent,' Guardiola said of Mane.
"Sometimes he's diving, sometimes he has this talent to score incredible goals in the last minute. He's a talent. If it's one time, two times, "we were lucky, we were lucky", but it happened in the last two seasons many, many times – they have a special character to do that.
I'm also curious to know how it took 4 fouls and a dive for Sadio Manè a yellow card?! Absolutely baffled #AVFC
— Ty Bracey (@TyBracey) November 2, 2019
Mane booked for a shocking dive. Made two blatant fouls early doors in a 30 second period - no punishment. Tell me theres no agenda!
— Martin (@parkerface1960) November 2, 2019
"We look at ourselves, we know which team we face, I think they have won 10 and drawn one… Next week we go to Anfield to try to play them."
On City's performance, he said: "We did everything, it was so difficult to attack when they defend with 11 players.
"We did everything we could and in the end our intensity and our players paid off. We made a good comeback. Everyone plays the way we want to play. They are top quality players, they are fast players, it was our job to try and beat Southampton and we did.
"It is not about what Southampton do or play but it is about how we reacted to that. Today we have to do everything. We have to take the rhythm that we needed forward in every sense of the world from how we pick the ball out of the net to how we take throw ins or corners."
