Pep Guardiola laid boot to the butt of former Manchester United stalwart Patrice Evra after the latter foolishly questioned their character and mentality following City’s last-gasp Champions League defeat to Real Madrid. Guardiola didn’t compromise in his fierce defence of his Sky Blues players after Evra self-righteous questioning of their integrity on the pitch and City suffered a late collapse at the Bernabeu to miss the chance to reach the final for the second year in a row.
Guardiola was unhesitant in debunking the former United player who was the most vocal detractor, even as his team moves to within four points of the Premier League title since the defeat in Madrid, and was quick on the rebuttal to remind Evra that he was part of the team which lost heavily to Guardiola’s Barcelona side in the 2011 final.
“Specialist former players like [Dimitar] Berbatov and [Clarence] Seedorf, Patrice Evra and these type of people, they weren’t there [in Madrid],” Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.
“I played against them and when I played against them I didn’t see this kind of personality when we [Barcelona] destroyed them in the Champions League final against United. It’s the same character and personality. We don’t have personality because we concede two goals in two minutes when we had two chances to score and we don’t have personality? After the last four games we score 22 goals we have incredible personality. I’m sorry but I completely disagree about this.”
City can take another step towards the title if they win at West Ham on Sunday.
Liverpool will be facing Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday, by which time they play again in the Premier League, City could be six points clear with a superior goal difference.