Pep Guardiola responds as Mauricio Pochettino ignores handshake after 4-4 draw against Chelsea
Pep Guardiola has said that he has no qualms with Mauricio Pochetinno snubbing a handshake after the full-time whistle in Chelsea's 4-4 draw against Manchester City.
Tempers were running high at Stamford Bridge as the two teams played out an all-time Premier League classic on Sunday (12 November). No team ever had a two-goal advantage during the game while the Cityzens took the lead three separate times.
Rodri's 86th-minute goal put the visitors 4-3 in front and it looked like Manchester City were on course to register their seventh successive win against the Blues. But Armando Broja delaying a shot inside the box drew a foul from Ruben Dias, and Cole Palmer converted the stoppage-time penalty to send the home fans into delirium.
Referee Anthony Taylor added eight minutes on top of regulation time and blew the full-time whistle after more than 10 minutes of stoppage time had been played. Chelsea were on the counterattack and Marc Cucurella had space to run into right before the whistle went off.
Pochettino did not take kindly to this and stormed the pitch to confront the match officials, ignoring the customary post-match handshake with Guardiola. The Spanish tactician, however, was sympathetic to his counterpart's situation. He said, via the Mirror:
"No problem. It's not a problem. I don't want to say one word. It's completely fine. The emotions happen to me sometimes. It's fine."
The draw was enough to ensure Manchester City were top of the table after gameweek 12 with 28 points.
Mauricio Pochettino apologizes to referees after Chelsea's draw against Manchester City
After things had calmed down, Mauricio Pochettino had time to reflect on his post-match antics which saw him booked.
After the game, the Argentine tactician said, via the aforementioned source:
"I need to apologize to Anthony, the referees and the fourth official. In this moment, I feel that maybe Raheem can go through and go to score the fifth and in this moment when the game finishes I turn and say: ‘What the ….?’...
"...Then I turned and said 'I deserve, I deserve to be booked.’ Because I crossed the limit, so I want to apologize because it’s not a good image for me and for football, this type of behavior. I also want to apologise to Pep also because I did not see him in this moment."
Courtesy of the draw, Chelsea have broken into the top half of the table. They currently sit in 10th with 16 points from 12 matches and are unbeaten in their last two league games.
Their next task is an away league game against Newcastle United on November 25 after the international break. The Magpies sit three places and four points above the Blues in the table.