Pep Guardiola Sees ‘Bright Future’ For Manchester City Despite Liverpool Loss

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola remained optimistic about his team’s future despite suffering a 2-0 defeat to Premier League leaders Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Guardiola fielded a young starting XI, with an average age of just 24.7 years, leaving experienced players like Rúben Dias, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gündogan, and Bernardo Silva on the bench.

The City lineup included three 20-year-olds – Rico Lewis, Savinho, and Abdukodir Khusanov – and despite the loss, Guardiola expressed his satisfaction with their performance. “I saw a bright future,” Guardiola told the BBC. “Other than Kevin [De Bruyne] and Nathan [Ake], they are the future of this club in the next years, with others who will come in future windows.”

The result leaves City 20 points behind Liverpool in the table, and Guardiola acknowledged the gap between the two sides. When asked by ESPN about the biggest difference between the teams, he said, “You can see it in the table, they’ve picked up a lot of points, we’ve lost a lot when we couldn’t have. As for today, I have few things to say, we got to the touchline a lot, the winger was brilliant, but we lacked the quality to be able to resolve [the moves].”

City were without star striker Erling Haaland, who missed the match due to a knee injury sustained during the 4-0 win over Newcastle. Guardiola admitted uncertainty about Haaland’s availability for their upcoming match against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, saying, “I don’t know. I am not saying we didn’t get the result because Erling was not there. That is unfair on the other players. We could finish more but in general it is fine.”

Despite the defeat, Guardiola saw enough in his side to be confident for the future. “I saw a bright future,” he told BBC Sport. “These players are so young.” He specifically praised wide duo Savinho and Jeremy Doku, while also recognizing the importance of Phil Foden in the team’s future plans.

Guardiola responded to Liverpool boss Arne Slot’s post-match comments, in which Slot predicted that City would challenge strongly again next season. “I would like that,” Guardiola said. “I know what we have done as a team. It’s not enough but I recognise my team in the last two games in the Premier League – they were brilliant against both Newcastle and Liverpool.”

With 12 games remaining in the season, City’s main focus is securing a place in next season’s Champions League. They currently sit fourth in the table, three points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest and five points ahead of 10th-placed Fulham. Guardiola is convinced that the challenge of qualifying for the Champions League will provide sufficient motivation for his team. “If it doesn’t happen it’s because we were not good enough, not because we had a lack of hunger and desire,” he said. “It’s so tight with four or five teams; Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Aston Villa and the others are so good. It will not be easy but we will try.”