Guardiola - It was a penalty

Pep Guardiola was insistent Manchester City earned their controversial penalty that led to their opening goal against Burnley at the Etihad.
Pep GuardiolaPep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola

Portuguese forward Bernardo Silva somewhat exaggerated very slight contact from Clarets keeper Nick Pope, with referee Roger East pointing to the spot.

Sergio Aguero scored to draw level as City’s all time record goal scorer with Eric Brook with 177 goals, but the debate raged after the game, as to the award.

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Guardiola, simply, said: “Penalty. The right foot of Bernardo was caught by the keeper – I saw it.”

And he felt City ran out deserved 3-0 winners, with late goals from Nicolas Otamendi and Leroy Sane: “We knew that Burnley had not lost away, and physically they are amazing - they’re a group with a huge work ethic and after the Champions League is it always so demanding as well.

“But we conceded nothing, and we defended the second balls really well. In the second half especially we played so, so good and attacked at the right moments.

“We didn’t concede chances. Maybe last season if it had been 1-0 and we’d been playing a second half like that, we would have been more nervous.

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“But today we were more controlled and didn’t have that feeling.”

For City, it was a club record 11th-successive win, but he isn’t looking beyond the next game: “11 in a row – It means we are on top of the table in the league and Champions League, but it means nothing more than that.

“Last year we won 10 in a row and didn’t finish top. I have told the players ‘I am grateful for what you’ve done so far, but if we lose rhythm anyone can beat you,’ so we cannot lose focus.

“If people come here and think that in 20 minutes we will be 5-0 up, it won’t happen.

“At 0-0 it was difficult, but we were stable. We created more chances and scored when we had to – in general we controlled the game.”