Pep has no hard feelings for Poch after handshake snub

Mitchell Fretton
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Pep Guardiola was impressed by Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea
Pep Guardiola was impressed by Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola understands Mauricio Pochettino's emotions after the Chelsea head coach stormed onto the pitch instead of shaking hands with the Spaniard at the end of the 4-4 draw between the teams.

Cole Palmer rescued a point for the hosts in stoppage time. firing home from the penalty spot after Ruben Dias clattered into substitute Armando Broja.

And Guardiola insists he has no hard feelings towards Poch — who confronted the referee as the Blues looked to break before the full-time whistle sounded.

He said: "It's not a problem. It's fine. The emotions happen to me sometimes. Completely fine.

"Good advert for the Premier League. We had moments, they had moments. 

"The quality they are, they push you to another level to make decisions. Right now, I think it's a fair result.

"If you expect we are coming here to win 7-0 you are wrong. Always I give credit to opponents and everyone wants to beat us.

"Their shape is really good. It happens, give credit to both teams and Pochettino will give analysis about his team. It was tight. A fair result.

"Nothing to lose for them. If Chelsea lose to Man City people say it is normal, nothing to lose, but why don't you give credit to Chelsea, what they have done in the market and in future seasons they will be there."

It was a tight contest at Stamford Bridge and the former Barcelona head coach went on to hail the quality Chelsea possess within their squad.

He added: "You control the middle, so you control the game. But they have these guys [Conor] Gallagher, [Moises] Caicedo, Enzo [Fernandez], Cole, and [Raheem] Sterling came inside again.

"They are a really good team so there's no doubt. Liverpool couldn't win [against them].

"They were much much better than Arsenal and in the end, Arsenal drew. So you know, it's Chelsea, they won't go away."

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Manchester CityPremier LeagueChelseaCole Palmer