Pep Guardiola said Manchester City would not have “even one beer” to celebrate Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea due to the title race, though the manager was coy regarding his future.
Antoine Semenyo’s 72nd-minute backheel gave City a second trophy of the season at Wembley following April’s Carabao Cup win over Arsenal.
Yet as City travel to Bournemouth for Tuesday’s penultimate Premier League match the manager was clear there would be no celebrations due to the need to win to keep their challenge alive.
“Home [now] – not even one beer,” he said. “Next Monday after Aston Villa, we’re going to celebrate it with the women’s team. The club said that to me [with] some parade in Manchester because we must celebrate with both teams.
“There is no time [to celebrate]. Chelsea had seven days to prepare for the final, we had three days and yesterday [Friday] was a nightmare. We spent six hours from the city to here. The trains are a little bit of a problem in this country.”
Arsenal, who host Burnley on Monday, are on 79 points, two ahead of City, who host Villa on the final Sunday, with the leaders travelling to Crystal Palace. Amid questions about whether or not City can overhaul Arsenal to claim the seventh title of Guardiola’s tenure, there is growing expectation he will leave this summer.
When asked about this he offered an opaque answer. “The moment the fire decreases, then we will go home. I am a funny guy,” he said. “This year I have been really good. Last season was the toughest season for many reasons.”
Saturday’s win was the 20th piece of silverware in Guardiola’s decade in charge, including three Community Shields. City lost the past two FA Cup finals and Guardiola spoke of officiating being decisive.
He said: “I had a feeling last season against Palace and two seasons before against United that we were better than today, but in these type of games the margins were so minor. The decisions always make the difference and now I’m sitting here as the winner. Otherwise it would be Calum [McFarlane].
“This trophy is really cool, really special for its tradition and after the two defeats, back to Manchester with it is nice.”
Of his goal, Semenyo said: “It has happened a couple of times in training – it happened perfectly today. Everything happened so fast. It came straight to me and I had to improvise as quickly as I can.”
Semenyo joined City from Bournemouth in January and has now won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. He said: “I have never competed for trophies like this before, so everything is new. Hopefully, we can finish the job off [in the league].
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“As a kid I have always wanted to be playing for the top teams – it took a long time to get there, but I am grateful. The first thing he [Guardiola] said to me when I came was: ‘Don’t change your game’.”
McFarlane believed Chelsea should have had a penalty when Jorrel Hato went down under Abdukodir Khusanov’s challenge in the second half. “They are tough calls, but for me the collision is a foul. Jorrel gets in front and there is contact,.”
McFarlane was proud of Chelsea’s performance. “We went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the world and there was very little between them. You have momentum if you can get that moment of quality and go in front. We just didn’t manage to do that. We know what this team is capable of.”
