Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City were “very good at everything” as they ended Liverpool’s reign as Carabao Cup holders.
Goals from Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah weren’t enough to prevent the Reds slipping to a 3-2 defeat at the Etihad in their fourth round clash on Thursday.
The result ended a run of five meetings between the teams without a win for City, who had already lost to Liverpool in the Community Shield and Premier League this season.
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And Guardiola explained the difficulty of facing Jurgen Klopp’s side while praising the performance of his team.
“We cannot say it was not a good game,” said the City boss. “Liverpool and City again respect what they have done in the last years. The last games between each other weren’t successful for us, but we played the game we should play.
“It’s not easy to keep the ball against them as they have a defensive structure that is the most difficult I have faced in my career. I had the feeling that we were very good at everything but they (Liverpool) don’t need anything to score or create chances with the quality and structure they have.
“When they are much better they destroy you. It’s impossible to be better for 90 minutes than them but I think today we played a really, really good game against them.”
Kevin De Bruyne created the first and third City goals for Erling Haaland and Nathan Ake respectively, and earned particular praise from Guardiola.
“Kevin sometimes just has to find the right fire inside himself, to be a little bit grumpy or upset to play his best,” he added. “He has to be provoked to get the energy inside him, and wonders happen. What a player.
“I know it’s not easy to find this consistency every three games but in the important games like today was something inside happened and he was Mr Kevin De Bruyne.”
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