Source: By PA Sport Staff
Pep Guardiola defends Manchester City celebrations at Old Trafford
Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City’s celebrations after Sunday’s derby victory at Old Trafford were not excessive.Staff and players from Manchester United are understood to have taken exception to the way City enjoyed their 2-1 success, sparking a fracas in the corridor outside the dressing rooms.There have been reports that United boss Jose Mourinho became involved in an altercation with City goalkeeper Ederson and that milk and water were thrown at the Portuguese. City coach Mikel Arteta is also understood to have suffered a cut to the head.#PEP (On derby victory): Everybody fought hard to win. We could have scored more goals. After the game we celebrated with the fans and went to the changing room and celebrated the win. #swansvcity— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 12, 2017Our ????s!Post-derby training gallery on the way! ?? #mancity pic.twitter.com/RLkmut7rkc— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 11, 2017Guardiola was unwilling to comment on the details of the alleged melee but was adamant his players were only celebrating inside their dressing room and were within their rights to do so.Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Guardiola said: “We won a derby against Manchester United, at that the moment the biggest rival. We have to win it.“So people expect we are not going to celebrate? No. We celebrate. When United win a derby they celebrate, when Arsenal win against Untied they celebrate. When United or Arsenal win the FA Cup they celebrate. But where? Inside the locker room. That’s what we do and we did.”5?? things to discuss after #utdvcity, including the performances of @edersonmoraes93 and @21LVA. ???? #ManCity https://t.co/tx3UxbDZa7— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 11, 2017City’s players are understood to have been celebrating raucously and playing loud music but Guardiola insists that is nothing out of the ordinary. It is claimed the trouble started as Mourinho walked past the City dressing room on his way to conduct post-match interviews.Guardiola said: “The situation at Old Trafford when you go to the home locker room you have to pass the away one, but we were inside celebrating. But that is normal, it wasn’t anything exceptional. It was what we did last season in the past and what we will do in the future.”City won with goals from David Silva and Nicolas Otamendi, either side of a Marcus Rashford reply, and their victory took them 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League.Man Utd have let in two goals at Old Trafford in the #PL for just the second time under Jose Mourinho (last conceding two v Man City in September 2016) pic.twitter.com/sceq5Gl9if— Premier League (@premierleague) December 11, 2017It was a significant win over their closest rivals and Guardiola was happy to encourage the celebrations.The Spaniard, who takes his team to Swansea on Wednesday, said: “I encourage the players to celebrate the victories, but of course inside the locker room. We have huge respect for our opponents – not just for Manchester United, all the opponents.“When we lose you have to accept the defeat, when we win we try to celebrate.”Enjoy the moment, but get ready for more challenges ahead! ????#MondayMotivaton pic.twitter.com/6xIWMGCEMD— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 11, 2017City and United have been asked by the Football Association for their observations regarding the alleged commotion. They have been given until Wednesday to respond.Guardiola said: “What happened, happened. Hopefully it cannot happen again. On what happened we will make the statement to the FA investigation and they are going to decide.”City are bidding for a Premier League record 15th successive league win at Swansea but will be without captain Vincent Kompany, who suffered a muscular injury at Old Trafford..@ManCity aiming to beat Arsenal's 2002 record with 15th top-flight win in a row That and more in this Matchweek 17 preview: https://t.co/AwjyH1mX7t pic.twitter.com/OM7I5S9XQY— Premier League (@premierleague) December 12, 2017(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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