Pep Guardiola admits West Ham 'were better' as Manchester City's Carabao Cup run ends with shootout loss
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Updated 27/10/2021 at 21:56 GMT
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola finally tasted defeat in the Carabao Cup after his side were held to a goalles draw at West Ham. David Moyes' side went on to win 5-3 on penalties, meaning the London side reach the quarter-finals but also that Manchester City had lost their first game in the competition in five years.
Pep Guardiola
Image credit: Getty Images
Pep Guardiola accepted that West Ham deserved to beat Manchester City as their five-year long Carabao Cup unbeaten run came to an end.
Neither side scored in the 90 minutes meaning the game went to penalties, with West Ham’s Said Benrahma holding his nerve to score the winner - after Alphonse Areola had saved from Phil Foden.
It means that City will now not contest the final and a new Carabao Cup winner will be found in 2022, and Guardiola was not desperately unhappy with how the match played out.
“An incredible run has finished,” he said after the game. “We finished in a good way. We played in a really good way, creating chances against a team who defended deep. On penalties, they were better. Congratulations to West Ham. Next year we will be back.”
The Spaniard was happy to see Kevin De Bruyne get minutes, and also explained that he had planned to split duties over the match between full-backs Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo.
“Everyone deserves to play. Everyone is ready to play. Kevin came back from important injuries in the last part of the season and he was so important against Liverpool, Chelsea and Brugge. He was there as always. Day by day he will get his best form,” he said.
“We spoke about 45 mins for Kyle, 45 mins for Joao. It doesn't matter about the result, it was 45 and 45. They have played a lot of minutes. I don’t want to put anything extra on them. We have a lot of games.
“Cole Palmer was excellent, creating chances in the first half. We played a tough side and when you arrive at the penalties anything can happen.”
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