Pep Guardiola reveals why he confronted Nathan Redmond after Manchester City's dramatic win over Southampton

Pep Guardiola said he was 'was telling [Nathan] Redmond how good he is' as he attempted to explain why he remonstrated with the Southampton winger

Pep Guardiola explained his extraordinary post-match celebrations by saying he had become frustrated by Southampton’s defensive tactics and time-wasting.

When Raheem Sterling’s 95th-minute winner struck the net, the Manchester City manager ran on to the pitch, punching the air while some of his players left the bench and sprinted down the touchline to celebrate with the goalscorer.

Among them was Benjamin Mendy who is recovering from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. “Who cares after a 95th-minute winner,” he tweeted. Guardiola smiled: “He is crazy. Six months out and he does that – what a disaster.”

Guardiola admitted that he had apologised to the referee, Paul Tierney, who had asked him to calm down and that he had gone over to Nathan Redmond to remonstrate with the Southampton striker.

“I was telling Redmond how good he is,” said Guardiola. “Southampton have some super-talented players and last season Redmond scored a superb one-on-one against us, he destroyed us, but here Southampton did not want to play. They were time wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.”

The vehemence with which Guardiola celebrated and condemned the tactics of Mauricio Pellegrino, who once shared a dressing room with him in Barcelona, demonstrated the importance he attached both to this game and Sunday’s fixture at Huddersfield, both of which were hard-fought wins settled by late goals from Raheem Sterling. But for those, the lead over Manchester United would be down to four points rather than eight.

Pep Guardiola celebrates wildly after Raheem Sterling's winning goal (Getty)

Despite Guardiola’s comments that Southampton had “10 men behind the ball” and that “their striker was man-marking Fernandinho”, it would be very hard to criticise Pellegrino’s tactics. Southampton played very well, took their chance and came within 20 seconds of becoming the first team since Everton in August to take a point from Manchester City.

“He is still young enough to improve,” said Guardiola of Sterling who has now scored 13 times in 19 matches. “He is still making steps. Before, he was a little shy and now he has the confidence to show what he can do. We have had a lot of special moments this season but this was amazing.”