Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained his bizarre celebration that has raised eyebrows across social media following his side's 4-1 victory at home to Liverpool.
The Cityzens had gone 1-0 down following Mohamed Salah's opener but soon found an equaliser through Julian Alvarez before the end of the first half. Efforts from Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan and Jack Grealish in the second half secured the victory, but it was the equaliser that sparked said celebrations.
Guardiola was captured looking upwards when celebrating animatedly before Liverpool substitutes Joel Matip, Konstantinos Tsimikas and Arthur Melo walked past following their respective warm-ups.
However, there was a clear exchange of words between the City boss and Tsimikas before the Spaniard shook Melo's hand which befuddled viewers.
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In his post-match press conference, Guardiola explained the interaction, telling a reporter: “I was happy and I said how nice was our goal.
“Ask him [Tsimikas] if I lacked respect. I celebrated with my son and after I said it was such a nice goal. Do you think it was a lack of respect?” to which the reporter replied: "Yes." “I’m sorry," responded Guardiola.
The celebration also prompted BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand to question the Manchester City manager's actions, with the former Manchester United defender saying: "I don't know how Tsimikas hasn't pushed the opposing manager Pep Guardiola out of the way. But he [Guardiola] seems happy. He can see it's a fantastic team goal, really well worked from Manchester City and he couldn't contain himself."
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The victory saw City close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to five points ahead of the Gunners' home match against Leeds United on Saturday afternoon with Guardiola's men now having ten league matches remaining as the title race approaches its climax.
Topics: Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Liverpool
Dan Hargraves