Pep Guardiola has tried clarifying his Sadio Mane is a ‘diver’ comments.
“I didn’t listen to what he said so I don’t know,” Guardiola said, before adding when the subject of tactical fouling was raised: “No comment on that. I don’t put oil in the fire.”
“My son and my daughter, all the time when they [Liverpool] win in the last minutes, ask me how lucky, how lucky they are,” Guardiola said.
“I say at the time, ‘It’s not lucky’. What Liverpool has done last season and this season many, many times is because they’ve this incredible quality and this incredible talent to fight until the end.
“That’s why I said to my players – not just my son and my daughter – that it is not lucky. If it happens once or twice in a life then, yes, but this many – maybe 10 or 12 or 13 times?”
“In the 94th minute like it was [in their win] against Leicester, it was a penalty, it was ‘Waaaaaaaah’. It was wow.
“Far away from my intention was to say Sadio is this type of player because I admire him a lot. For Jurgen it [the Leicester decision[ is a penalty, for the referee it was a penalty, for the VAR it was a penalty. I was the wrong guy – or maybe not, I don’t know.
“So it was a praise for Liverpool, not just about one action. To say it’s lucky again? No. It happens many times at Anfield and away (from home) because they push and they push. That’s why it’s nice to face them and try to compete with them. Hopefully I can clarify everything for Jurgen.”
“I’m wanting to qualify as soon as possible,” Guardiola said. “I’m not thinking of rotating my squad. I go game by game. Tomorrow is the most important to try to win and after go on to the next one.”
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