Guardiola unhappy Man City heads were down after Leipzig draw

Manchester City supervisor Pep Guardiola stated he gathered his gamers on the pitch on the finish of the 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig as a result of he wasn’t blissful that their “heads were down” on the remaining whistle.

City were held on the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday after Josko Gvardiol’s second-half header cancelled out Riyad Mahrez’s opener within the first half.

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Guardiola’s facet regarded in full management throughout the first 45 minutes however were on the again foot within the second half and after the turnaround, Guardiola stated he needed to remind the gamers he was pleased with the outcome.

“They were heads down,” stated Guardiola.

“I said ‘why are you heads down, be heads up, it was really good the way you play.’ If people don’t like it it doesn’t matter.

“The recreation was actually good. We performed how we must always play. In normal we do not have the workforce to compete in transitions, they’re sooner and faster. We haven’t got the tempo. We had management within the first half, set items were shut. We have a recreation in Manchester and we’ll see who wins.”

Despite being second best after half-time City might have had a chance to win it at the end but Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk waved away appeals for a penalty when Benjamin Henrichs appeared to handle Rodri’s header in stoppage time.

Guardiola said afterwards the incident was checked by VAR, although UK broadcaster BT Sport insisted it had not been looked at again.

“I did not see the picture,” said Guardiola.

“I noticed my gamers however not the picture. It was checked [by VAR]. We did not speak in regards to the refereeing selections, the referee determined no.”

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City face Leipzig in the return fixture at the Etihad Stadium on March 14 with a chance to qualify for the Champions League quarterfinals for the sixth year in a row.

Before then, however, they have a hectic schedule with games against Bournemouth, Bristol City, Newcastle and Crystal Palace — three of them away from home.

“I had the sensation the sport could be determined within the second leg,” said Guardiola.

“Leipzig is an efficient workforce, they beat Real Madrid right here [in the group stages]. I’ve lots of respect for them. Instead of claiming we were dangerous, why not that they were good? I put it in perspective, I’m so delighted with the sport we performed.

“We can do better, we can adjust something, They are a really good team but we will try to find a way to get through. It’s so demanding, this competition. All the teams are strong.”