Manchester City are on a roll and don't appear to be stoppable in the Premier League title race.

Pep Guardiola could not hide his delighted, dismissing his old rival Jose Mourinho's claims that a non-penalty decision on Ander Herrera had cost them the game.

The aftermath was certainly interesting, with Mourinho sprayed with water and milk and Ederson falling out with the Red Devils boss as emotions spilled over.

Now with an 11-point gap at the top of the league, Guardiola may feel relaxed enough to concentrate on the Champions League, with the Blues drawing Basel in a kind last 16 draw.

The Spaniard is expected to address the dressing room row when he faces the media on Tuesday afternoon.

In the Spanish-speaking section of the press conference, it felt as if Pep took a shot at Chelsea over their “one game per week” title run.

Guardiola clearly weary of the challenges ahead, but feels his side are achieving more given their Champions League commitments.

Basel over two legs will be kind to their schedule though, though the massive ties from the quarter-finals onwards could swing their priorities to Europe if the league is already wrapped up.

Mourinho: You don't want to have two bad results

When you lose, probably you have a little bit more desire to win it. No-one likes to lose once, no-one likes to lose twice, it’s something that belongs to every team in the world.

The motivation is based on we want to try to win all the time and I repeat, when you have a bad result, you don’t want to have two bad results.

More from Mourinho

I’m not here to comment his words, the only thing I can say is for me it was a question of diversity in behaviour, in education, nothing more than that.

This press conference is pre Bournemouth, not post Manchester City - that has already been done.

Jose responds to Pep

Mourinho has his say, after Pep refused to backtrack at all.

As far as he was concerned, City have done nothing wrong. Jose on the other hand (h/t @DTguardian):

For me it was a question of diversity - diversity in behaviour, diversity in education, nothing more than that.

Pep adamant City didn't celebrate too much

No. Definitely not. Believe me. Definitely not.

It was the same after the Southampton game, that was 96 mins or something like that, but we were happy.

It was a derby, it was the closest rival.

Pep accepts responsibility for the manner of celebrations

I am the guy who encouraged them to celebrate between each other. And that is what we did.

And after what happened, hopefully it can not happen again.

Pep on City achieving on two fronts

It makes an influence playing or not in the Champions League.

It doesn’t guarantee you will win trophies at the end of the season.

In the future we can drop points, the league can be open again, people might think we’ve won already the Premier League, but I don’t think that.

Chelsea only had one game per week last season, so it makes us very happy about what we have done so far.

Pep on Kompany

Swansea? No. It’s less than we expect.

Exactly I don’t know. It’s muscular.

Until now we show what we can do on the big stages.

It’s passed. It doesn’t give you the guarantee in the future, nobody knows. Can be injured players, nobody knows.

It’s how you are in that moment, now I cannot tell you what is going to happen.

Pep on Champions League

I didn’t see too much of them. Always what happens, I say the same, ask me that question one week or two weeks before the game.

It’s far away. The draw is the draw.

Last year, against Monaco, everybody was happy, then what happened?

I try to give to my players the best advice.

We represent ourselves first and then the club.

Pep on focus

I’m going to try focus on the next game. Stay in football as much as possible.

Swansea in the most important thing.

It’s what I did all my career.

He plays in his way, we play in our way. Our counter-attack was not perfect.

I remember when I was in Spain, Vieira vs Keane, it’s not the first time, hopefully it’ll be the last.

Pep on Arteta being hurt in the brawl

I’m not going to explain what happened there.

During the game, yes, after? No. The FA knows our opinions on it.

I was clear, that’s all.

More from Pep on the celebrations

We were inside, it is normal.

We didn’t do anything exceptional, we did what we did in the past and what we will do in the future.

The image can speak for itself. What happened after the game.

Normal celebration.

Pep on Mourinho being upset at City celebrating

No, I’m not going to comment about that.

Definitely, not [too much]. We won a derby, what do people expect we don’t celebrate?

No, we celebrate, when Arsenal beat United, they celebrate... We try to do it in the locker room.

It was correct. We jumped because we were happy. Of course, in that moment, we want to celebrate.

City must beware Basel threat

Manchester City will not be complacent - despite landing arguably the easiest draw in the Champions League last 16.

Pep Guardiola’s Premier League leaders were drawn against Swiss champions Basel, who finished runners-up to City’s local rivals Manchester United in Group A.

City could not have picked a better draw, having avoided the likes of 12-time winners Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus.

But Basel beat United 1-0 at St Jakob Park last month, adding to their notable English scalps that include Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs.

Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, said Guardiola’s side will not take lightly Basel, despite the Blues being installed as favourites to lift the trophy.

“We have to respect FC Basel and we have to be careful,” said Begiristain. “We need to be ready to play them and do our best because obviously we want to go as far as we can in this competition.

Read more of what Txiki had to say here.


Allardyce wades in to Manchester derby post-match fracas fallout

Sam Allardyce has told Jose Mourinho he should be having a go at his OWN players for Manchester City’s post match celebrations.

The United manager is in hot water after confronting his derby rivals for their raucous dressing room music after their impressive 2-1 win at Old Trafford.

But when asked what he thought the line should be for players’ celebrations, the experienced Everton boss and former England manager suggested that Mourinho should be using the music blasting out of next door to motivate his own players to perform better.

Asked what players should do in enjoying their win, Allardyce said:

What they fancy doing personally.

If they want to turn up the music and sing and dance after the win that’s entirely up to them – it’s not your position as an opposing manager to do anything about it.

It’s one of them when you say to your players – that’s what you should be doing, next time around we need to win to be celebrating like that.”

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Image:
Getty)

United and City blame each other for tunnel spat

Rivals United and City are at war over who started the Manchester derby tunnel bust-up.

The FA have launched an inquiry into Sunday’s 20-man brawl that league leaders City claim was sparked by Man United boss Jose Mourinho demanding the visitors tone down their raucous celebrations following their 2-1 win at Old Trafford.

A milk carton was thrown at him in the melee, which broke out in the doorway of the away dressing-room after the United chief allegedly told the Blues’ players lower the volume of their loud music.

City coach Mikel Arteta suffered a cut eyebrow in the ensuing fracas in the narrow corridor outside the away dressing-room, with witnesses claiming United striker Romelu Lukaku was at the centre of the ugly episode.

The Reds deny the Belgian threw anything as tempers boiled over, but insist milk was thrown towards Mourinho from inside the City dressing-room, a charge denied by the visitors.

Both clubs have until 5pm on Wednesday to provide the FA with their written observations after it was confirmed referee Michael Oliver – whose room is adjacent to the away dressing-room at Old Trafford – did not witness the incident or include it in his report.

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Image:
Twitter/@Notamendi30)