Manchester, England – Pep Guardiola said Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Liverpool is proof that they are ready to challenge for the Premier League title.
City moved to within four points of leaders Arsenal at the top of the table thanks to goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku.
The result against Liverpool came 24 hours after Mikel Arteta’s side drew 2-2 with Sunderland, and Guardiola said afterwards that it felt like an important performance against the current champions.
Guardiola said: “I think we and Liverpool said: Wow, Arsenal finally dropped points and conceded two goals.”
“But in the end we have to do it and I told the players, ‘Don’t do it because Arsenal didn’t win yesterday. Do it because we believe in ourselves that we can play against the English champions and show them that we are ready to be there with them this season.’”
“Today we proved it. We did it.”
Doku was City’s standout performer against Liverpool, winning an early penalty kick that Haaland missed before scoring a stunning goal in the second half.
Guardiola expressed his admiration for the Belgian, especially after Connor Bradley, Liverpool’s right back, played a good match against Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid’s winger, on Tuesday.
Guardiola said: “He (Doku) asks himself to be better, he listens, and he has special qualities in dribbles.”
“Today, Connor (Bradley) – Liverpool’s right-back – I’m really impressed
“Pep Lijnders told me thousands of incredibly good things about this guy, he can do it all. I know the game against (Real) Madrid how good he was against Vinicius.”
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“He (Doku) handled the ball. He was aggressive and quick without the ball and we tried to help him. He played a great game.”
The win over Liverpool was the perfect way for Guardiola to celebrate his 1,000th game as a manager.
Guardiola said: “Thank you to the players and technical staff for giving me a wonderful gift against the most important opponent we faced during my time here.”
“It was great to play against them and see Virgil (Van Dijk), (Andy) Robertson and Mohamed Salah after all the battles we had.
“It was a special night with my kids here.”
