Pep Guardiola responds to Mauricio Pochettino claim after Chelsea draw: 'Congratulations. If he believes that'

Mauricio Pochettino said he was proud of his players after their 1-1 draw at the Etihad
Giuseppe Muro18 February 2024

Pep Guardiola has responded to Mauricio Pochettino after the Chelsea manager said he was proud of his players following their 1-1 draw against Manchester City.

Chelsea held City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to dent their title bid.

Raheem Sterling gave Chelsea the lead in the first half but Rodri rescued a point with a dramatic late equaliser.

Erling Haaland could have won the game for City but he missed several chances on a frustrating day for Guardiola and the champions, who lost ground in the title race after wins for Liverpool and Arsenal.

After the game, Pochettino said: “I am so pleased. I told the players I feel so proud.”

In response, Guardiola said: “Good, congratulations. If he believes that, that is good for his team.”

Saturday was the second time this season Chelsea have got under City’s skin, after they held them to a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge earlier in November.

Pochettino hailed the spirit of his players after another good afternoon for Chelsea ahead of the Carabao Cup Final against Liverpool next weekend.

Pochettino said: “In the last three games we have started to create a very good spirit. That is the way we need to keep going and the way we want to build our team.

“Today was a very good opportunity to show that we are [going] in the way we want.

“In the second half, it is normal with their quality, they force you to go deep and created chances with the capacity to score. But also for us we created a few chances to score and finish the game.

“Now we need to keep this momentum but we need to keep the idea that all together we can do good things.

“It is important that the players realise that football is really competitive and to reach the level we want, we need to suffer. Today was a good opportunity for us to realise we are in a good way.”

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