The Spaniard was filmed in a respectful embrace with the Argentine at full-time and battled to find the words to describe the contest
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed he struggled to answer a question posed to him by Leeds United coach Marcelo Bielsa after their 1-1 draw in the Premier League on Saturday.
Despite Raheem Sterling’s 17th-minute opener, Guardiola’s side were unable to close out the contest with Rodrigo scoring a second-half equaliser for Leeds.Â
City were made to pay for being wasteful in the final third as they got just two of their 23 shots on target. Leeds also edged out Guardiola’s team for possession and passes as they continue to show they can compete in the top-flight this season.Â
Guardiola and Bielsa exchanged a hug after the full-time whistle blew with the latter eager to get his counterpart’s thoughts on the game – something the City manager struggled to produce so quickly.
“He said to me ‘What is your opinion of the game?’ And I said ‘After one second I am not able to analyse the game!” Guardiola told Sky Sports post-match.
“Maybe he’s cleverer than me! I’m not. I need time to process how was the game, but you know I said that I thought it was a good game, it was fair and that’s why the result was the result.”
Speaking later on, Guardiola would pay respect to Bielsa’s side for not shying away from the contest.Â
“The approach was incredible and it’s nice to face a team like Leeds because they want to win, like they did with Liverpool. It’s incredibly entertaining football and it’s interesting for the fans,” Guardiola told BBC’s Match of the Day.
“It was an entertaining game for everyone. I’m incredibly proud of these players who enjoy football and come to this country and play many years at a high level. This is their first pre-season together, we couldn’t do it more because the opponent was so good like all Marcelo Bielsa sides.”
Bielsa himself conceded that his side were second best for much of the game but managed to engineer moments of dominance that was ultimately rewarded.
“The start and the end were with City and the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half were a bit better for us,” Bielsa said.Â
“For them to be superior to us is pretty easy for them, it doesn’t require much effort, whereas for us it requires us to go to the limit to be on their level.
“We couldn’t take the ball off them and they were taking the ball off us very easily. We did it with a lot of effort, a lot of aggression to win the ball back and the confidence in our game grew.
“It wouldn’t have been fair if we had won the match, it would’ve been possible, but not fair.”
