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Pep Guardiola believes Manchester Metropolis are bettering as he sought to concentrate on their efficiency relatively than late VAR drama in a 2-2 draw at Monaco.
Eric Dier stole some extent for the Ligue 1 aspect with a last-gasp penalty that was awarded by referee Jesus Gil Manzano solely following a VAR assessment.
After consulting the pitchside monitor, the Spanish official deemed Nico Gonzalez’s boot had made contact with Dier’s head and awarded Monaco a spot-kick that meant Erling Haaland’s two targets could be solely sufficient for some extent.
There have been heated exchanges across the award of the penalty, with each benches concerned, however Guardiola selected to maintain his personal counsel on the matter afterwards.
“[I have] nothing to say to Spanish referees,” the Metropolis boss stated. “We performed a very good recreation.
“We all the time attempt to create extra possibilities and concede few, and that’s what occurred. They’ve quick gamers with their physicality, however we conceded few and we created plenty of possibilities, contemplating it’s the Champions League, and I’m actually happy for that.
The factors are shared
2-2 pic.twitter.com/dN2qW8BTX0
— Manchester Metropolis (@ManCity) October 1, 2025
“In fact, we have been shut, however on the finish we couldn’t defend the free-kick properly, and we conceded the penalty.
“In soccer, you need to win with the consequence. When you analyse the sport there have been many issues that have been good.”
Metropolis have endured a topsy-turvy begin to the season, already struggling probably damaging defeats to Tottenham and Brighton and Hove Albion and conceding a late equaliser to Arsenal however beating rivals Manchester United within the derby.
“Step-by-step, we shall be higher,” Guardiola stated. “However we had many possibilities, and Phil [Foden] within the first half and plenty of gamers performed actually good. We conceded nearly nothing.
“When it’s shut, you need to defend and we take the purpose.”
