Pep Guardiola hails ‘perfect’ Man City mauling of Liverpool and issues Erling Haaland injury update

Alex Young
·2 min read
‘Perfect’: Pep Guardiola (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
‘Perfect’: Pep Guardiola (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has branded today's "perfect" 4-1 win over Liverpool among the best performances of his tenure.

The Reds went ahead against the run of play through Mohamed Salah, but soon levelled matters thanks to a Julian Alvarez's slotting home Jack Grealish's drilled pass.

Kevin De Bruyne added a second within a minute of the second half restarting, and City never looked back. Ilkay Gundogan and Grealish settled the rout, and Guardiola was keen to praise every player.

"From the first minute until the 93rd minute, it was almost the perfect performance," he told Match of the Day. "Even 0-1 down, we were playing well and Jack [Grealish] made a good save to stop a potential 0-2.

"The way we played, the way we found our spaces for how they defend. Our intensity, high pressing.

"As a part of that, you have to perform the way we performed. We were so stable and stuck to the plan. All the players were magnificent.

"Always we have fought against Liverpool, the way they defend, the way they play is so difficult for us. But today the players were magnificent. We played really well in all departments so hats off to our players. Tell me one player who didn't play well? There was no one who was not playing well."

He added to BT Sport: "One of the best performances in my seven years."

Haaland was absent from the game with an injury picked up before the international break. Guardiola is not concerned and believes the striker can return next against Southampton.

"We spoke yesterday and he didn't feel fit," Guardiola said of Haaland.

"Of course we want to take a risk, this is an important game but we have Julian [Alvarez] and now we have a long week to recover. Hopefully next weekend he can be involved."

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