Source: TheGuardian
Pep Guardiola blames Carabao Cup ball for City’s struggle against Wolves
• Claudio Bravo saved two penalties as league leaders reached last eight• Guardiola: the ball was unacceptable for a high-level competitionPep Guardiola branded the ball used in Manchester City’s 4-1 penalty shootout win over Wolverhampton Wanderers as “unacceptable for a high-level competition” after his side survived a scare to progress to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after extra time.Claudio Bravo saved two Wolves penalties before Sergio Agüero scored the decisive spot-kick and while Guardiola was pleased with the victory, he expressed displeasure at the Mitre ball which is usually used in Football League matches. “It is not acceptable, the ball was unacceptable for a high-level competition,” Guardiola said. “It is too light, it moves all over the place, it is not a good ball. It is impossible to score with a ball like that and I can say that because we won, I’m not making excuses. All of my players said: ‘What is that?’ I’m sorry Carabao Cup is not a serious ball for a serious competition. It’s [for] marketing, money, OK but it’s not acceptable – [it has] no weight, nothing.” Related: Claudio Bravo’s two penalty saves help Manchester City past Wolves Continue reading......read full article
