Pep Guardiola speaking with Stefan Ortega at full-time. (Image: Optus Sport.)
was spotted having an intense conversation with goalkeeper Stefan Ortega after their side dropped two points late to .
Ortega had , the latter coming in the 92nd minute, and was on the receiving end of a rant by his head coach.
Guardiola repeatedly shouted in his goalkeeper’s face before wrapping his arms around him in a warm embrace, grabbing his arms as if to reassure the German stopper.
But Ortega and City’s night could have been much worse if not for Nathan Ake’s goal-line clearance moments before the final whistle had blown, with brace cancelled out in another disappointing evening for Guardiola’s side.
The boss was quick to praise Ortega, who kept Ederson on the bench once again. “Josko Gvardiol played incredible,” Guardiola said. “I was satisfied! The same with Stefan Ortega.
“I said how good he played, the actions with the ball, the pass to , how happy and satisfied I am, especially with these two players and what they have done…”
Bryan Mbeumo going round Stefan Ortega. (Image: Getty)
Instead, Guardiola pointed the finger at his attacking players and their decision-making in the final third. “I think we didn’t make the right decisions when we could run, because for the way they play you can run,” he added. “Our decisions were not the best that they could be.
“They put a lot of players in the box for the crosses, and they are stronger than us in that department for the absences that we have, and they equalised.”
Foden, who was on a hat-trick, could be deemed as one of those who wasn’t singled out after another impressive performance by the man returning to form.
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And when he was quizzed over why Foden was brought off for James McAtee late on, and the former stating that his own team looked “leggy” Guardiola replied: “Yeah, that’s why I replaced him…”
Foden, who looked set to be the matchwinner after two second-half goals put City 2-0 up with less than 10 minutes remaining, assessed: “We just looked tired at the end, the last 20, 30 minutes. We looked leggy and they put the pressure on and put longer balls into the box.
“We didn’t cope with the physicality at the end. It’s one of the toughest places to come and they give you different challenges. I was happy with the performance up until we went 1-0 up and then after that we let our performance slip and gave the ball away. It’s something to learn from. They gave us a challenge today and we did the best we could.”