Pep Guardiola praised Mikel Arteta’s quality as a manager.
“Mikel knows everything. He is so good. It is not because he is my friend or because today I beat him,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.
“I know what he planned, know how he works. He is so clever. I learn a lot by watching his team. Today I learned something, I can use it in the future.
“It’s not because we were together – he knows everything about football.”
Arteta for his part, returned the compliment by saying City were better.
“Absolutely [the start cost us]. We conceded the first goal, it’s a really difficult situation, it puts the game exactly where they wanted,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
“I think after that, the team reacted really well, we were on top of the game, tried to generate chances, momentum but we lacked the quality.
“We got something [tactical] wrong, we talked about something and then didn’t do it in the first five or 10 minutes and they used the overloads down the side. It’s a cross from [Riyad] Mahrez – you know where it is going – Sterling cannot head that ball in the middle of the goal.
“The moment we clicked, we did what we prepared, they found it difficult. We found really good spaces but when we were there, in the final third, we lacked the final pass.”
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