Pep Guardiola questions if Man City were responsible for Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool slip vs Chelsea

The Manchester City manager sarcastically claimed his team were responsible for the Liverpool captain’s error in 2014.
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Pep Guardiola has sarcastically questioned whether Manchester City are to blame for Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip against Chelsea in 2014.

The then Liverpool capital’s error led to Demba Ba netting in the final weeks of the title battle between the Reds and City, with Gerrard’s trip a pivotal factor in Manuel Pellegrini’s Blues ultimately finishing top of the pile.

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But a defiant Guardiola on Friday claimed City have ‘already been sentenced’ amid Premier League allegations that the club breached financial rules, and added he felt ‘alone’ against the other 19 top-flight teams.

Speaking in the second part of his media briefing, Guardiola responded passionately to a question about whether he will always look back fondly on his best moments at City, with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager ironically questioning whether his club are to blame for Gerrard’s slip.

“They [the moments] belong to us, absolutely belong to us. Regardless of the sentence, they belong to us. The moment from Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli.

“I don’t know if we are responsible for Steven Gerrard’s slip in that situation in Anfield - I didn’t want it for respect for Steven Gerrard, but is it our fault? C’mon, that belongs to us.

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“The moments we lived in these years together… after if they decide to give [the title away], okay. The Premier League will decide but I know we won what we won in the way we won it with the effort we put behind for just something that happened in 2009 and 2010. It’s not going to change one second.”

A self-pitying but zealous Guardiola also insisted City’s reputation has been irreparably damaged by the allegations made by the Premier League, and the previous claims from Uefa in 2020. The Catalan said many will consider them guilty regardless of the outcome determined by the Premier League committee.

“It’s [our reputation] already damaged, it’s not going to change anything,” he claimed. “It will be good for us but the case against Uefa didn’t change anything when it’s the same potential accusations that they have and it didn’t change anything.

“We know exactly what we have done but we live thinking about what the other people think about us. Forget about it, think what we have done, the feelings and the good moments. No-one can change it.”