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Man City vs Leeds: Pep Guardiola congratulates ‘fantastic’ 10-man visitors on last-gasp Premier League win

Marcelo Bielsa’s side had a man sent off but secured an added-time victory against the league leaders

Alex Pattle
Saturday 10 April 2021 15:20 BST
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Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola reacts during his team’s loss to Leeds
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola reacts during his team’s loss to Leeds

Pep Guardiola could do little but congratulate Leeds United on their added-time 2-1 win against Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.

Visitors Leeds took the lead through Stuart Dallas shortly before half-time, just minutes before captain Liam Cooper was sent off for a challenge on Man City striker Gabriel Jesus.

In the second half, City pressed for an equaliser that eventually came via Ferran Torres in the 76th minute, and the top-flight leaders looked the likelier of the two teams to grab a winner.

But Dallas struck again for Marcelo Bielsa’s side in the dying moments to secure all three points for Leeds.

“In the best moment that we have, we concede a goal,” City coach Guardiola told Sky Sports at full-time.

“We were not aggressive enough in those areas. We arrive in the final positions and today we could not score [enough goals].

“After the sending-off for them, we didn’t create as much chances. But when we play against teams set up in that way, with the pace they have on the counter-attack, we have to avoid the counter-attack – before the goal, we concede another one.

“They have a team where the transitions are fantastic and, yeah, I congratulate Leeds.

“It was not much clear, the chances; we had shots, but not [many clear chances]. We arrive in the final third, but after that we could not create much.”

When asked whether he viewed the defeat as a “freak result”, Spaniard Guardiola said: “When I play a game, always I am thinking we can win, we can lose... We prepared for the game as good as possible. The guys... we tried, but we couldn’t do it.”

Earlier this week, City were 2-1 victors at home to Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the teams’ Champions League quarter-final.

The second leg takes place next week, with City then taking on Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals.

City are still 14 points clear of second-placed rivals Man United in the Premier League, though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team have two games in hand over the leaders.

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