Pep Guardiola involved in angry confrontation with Brighton player following record-breaking Man City loss

Pep Guardiola clashed with Brighton & Hove Albion defender Jan Paul van Hecke in the aftermath of Manchester City’s defeat on Saturday.

The Blues were beaten on the south coast for a second week in a row in the Premier League, while the loss at the Amex was City’s fourth in a row in all competitions for Guardiola, the worst run of his time in charge of City.

The emotions spilled over at full-time as Guardiola went onto the pitch to applaud the away end. As he made his way over to the City fans, the Catalan shook hands with Van Hecke.

But the friendly post-match moment quickly turned sour as Guardiola clearly indicated his frustration at Van Hecke’s actions during the game. He pointed towards the goal and seemed to indicate to the Dutch defender had gone down softly during the game. Guardiola continued to point to his eye, clearly telling Van Hecke that he had seen something.

The back and forth between the two continued as the pair exchanged words at close quarters before Guardiola walked away to clap the City fans. He was back second later though, as he aggressively shook Van Hecke’s hand and continued the altercation.

The incident lasted for 44 seconds and was most likely in relation to late clash between the Brighton defender and Erling Haaland. Both were booked following grappling inside the Brighton box during injury-time of the 2-1 loss.

It continues the theme of the week for Guardiola, who was in an unusually stern mood in Friday’s pre-match press conference. The City boss gave several one-word answers, batted away questions about his future and sarcastically said his team were ‘terrible’.

There was also a thinly veiled criticism of Lee Carsely, the FA and Jack Grealish after the City winger was included in the England squad despite missing the last six games at club level through injury.

But nothing will have upset Guardiola more than his side’s second-half display at the Amex. Having dominated the opening 45 minutes, and taken the lead via Haaland, the champions allowed their levels to drop massively in the second period. Brighton took advantage and scored through Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley.

It continues City’s terrible run of form after defeats against Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth and Sporting Lisbon. City are next in action in two weeks’ time when they host Spurs in the Premier League.