After the breathtaking 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Manchester City, Mauricio Pochettino was so angry that he felt compelled to apologize – also to Pep Guardiola.
Pep Guardiola waited patiently for his coaching colleague, but when he didn’t show up, he went into the dressing room. Yes, Mauricio Pochettino was so upset immediately after Chelsea’s 4-4 draw against Manchester City that he even forgot to shake hands with the Catalan. What had happened?
Referee Anthony Taylor had just blown the whistle on one of the best games of the Premier League season so far – and certainly the Blues’ best under Pochettino. To Pochettino’s taste, however, his team had been denied one last promising attack, and so the Argentine stomped towards Taylor in a rage and gesticulating wildly, only barely restrained by his coaching team. The only thing Pochettino achieved: he was shown a yellow card
“I have to apologize to Anthony, the referees and the fourth official,” the Chelsea coach said later, when he had calmed down. “I had the feeling at that moment that Raheem might go through and score the fifth goal. I deserved the yellow card because I crossed the line. That kind of behavior doesn’t reflect well on me or on soccer. “
And because he “didn’t see him at that moment”, Pochettino immediately apologized to Guardiola, who registered it benevolently: “No problem, I don’t want to say a word about it. These are emotions, it happens to me sometimes. Everything is fine. “
Guardiola finds result “fair” – Pochettino is happy about “tools “
And Guardiola could also live with the two points lost in the title race, especially as Man City remain top of the table. “I know how good they are,” he said of Chelsea, who equalized in stoppage time through former ManCity talent Cole Palmer from the penalty spot. “It was a good test for us. We came away with a point, which is a fair result.”
Although the Blues remain a long way off the Champions League places in tenth place, they finally demonstrated on Sunday what this expensive and young squad is capable of. “We showed that we also have the tools to dominate against a team like City and create chances,” said a delighted Pochettino. “We are still a long way off in the table. But we can use a performance like this very well for the future. “
