Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was left to rue a missed opportunity as he feels their 2-2 draw with Liverpool has left their rivals still “alive” in the title race.
City were twice pegged back at the Etihad Stadium after goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus were cancelled out by Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane.
It means there remains only a point between the pair at the top of the table with seven matches remaining, with City having the advantage in terms of the lead and their fixture list.
But Guardiola admits they had a chance to put the race to bed after a dominant first half against out-of-sorts opponents.
He said: “It was a fantastic game from both sides and both sides try to win every game in all competitions. I had the feeling that with this result we missed an opportunity, a feeling we leave them alive.
“But I said to the team I don’t want one second of sadness. I’m so glad and happy with the way we played. When you do many good things the sadness is there, but I said ‘Forget it’. We were ourselves, we performed incredibly well and unfortunately we could not win. In general it was a good performance, so happy and glad for my team.”
As a result, Guardiola accepts the race is still wide open with no room for error. “Win, lose or draw it will not end, I had the feeling before but both teams knew it was massively important and we played for that. We know that right now one game dropped we will not be champions, we know that if we drop (points) we will not be champions. Now we know if we drop we will miss something.
“They have to win all the games too, but today all City and Liverpool fans will see that both teams tried to win the game. I think it’s nice to say that.—Agencies
