Pep Guardiola celebrated his 1,000th game with Manchester City by securing a dominant 3-0 win over Liverpool, ending their title defense, and praised his players, including Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku, for their tactical execution and aggression against key opponents like Mohamed Salah.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola paid tribute to his players following a commanding 3-0 victory against reigning Premier League champions Liverpool at the Etihad, a match marking his 1,000th game in management.
According to a report from The Liverpool Echo, the dominant win effectively ended the defending champions’ title defense, consigning Arne Slot’s side to their fifth defeat in their last six top-flight games.
The goals came from Erling Haaland, who opened the scoring after missing an earlier penalty, a deflected Nico Gonzalez strike, and a Jeremy Doku finish, moving City to within four points of league leaders Arsenal.
Guardiola specifically highlighted the tactical approach used to nullify the threat of Liverpool’s star forward, Mohamed Salah, who the manager noted has been a historical problem for City.
“Salah has been a nightmare for many years and Nico said he had to be aggressive with him,” said the City boss. “It helped that whenever Mo had the ball we had three or four players around him.
You will never have a better test as a full-back than to face Salah. Defensively we were really good, especially in the first half.”
He also revealed the influence of his assistant, Pep Lijnders (Jurgen Klopp’s former number two at Liverpool), on his assessment of other Liverpool players, stating about right-back Conor Bradley:
“Conor (Bradley) the right-back I was really, really impressed with, Pep Lijnders said he could do everything.”
Reflecting on the milestone victory, Guardiola expressed his deep appreciation for the performance, particularly the first half.
“Thank you to the players for this gift, against the most important opponents we have faced in my 10 years by far,” Guardiola said. He continued, praising the team’s defensive intensity:
“The first half was really, really good offensively and defensively… It had the feeling we were back in many ways. I didn’t like the second half, really not like in the first half. But we have to grow as a team. It was important win, we are second in the table.”