‘Once again’ – Pep Guardiola sparks awkward silence in interview with cryptic comments

Pep Guardiola refused to comment on Tottenham Hotspur’s first goal in a tense exchange after Manchester City slipped up.

The Spaniard saw his side surrender a two-goal lead as they were held to a 2-2 draw in north London on Sunday afternoon.

Sky Sports

It is a result which damages their Premier League title hopes, with Arsenal now six points clear at the summit.

City had raced into a comfortable first half lead thanks to goals from Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo.

However, Dominic Solanke’s brace was enough to rescue a point for the home side despite his controversial first effort.

A VAR check ultimately stuck with referee Robert Jones’ on-field decision to award the goal despite reviewing a possible foul on Marc Guehi.

It was deemed that Solanke had played the ball when challenging the City defender as he scored the goal.

Guardiola’s awkward interview

Following the match, Guardiola was asked for his thoughts on the decision whilst speaking to Sky Sports.

The City manager simply shrugged before muttering ‘once again’ in response to VAR looking at the incident.

When pressed for what he meant by the comment, he asked reporter Patrick Davison if they had seen the goal before an awkward silence between the pair.

Guardiola then asked the reporter what he thought, to which Davison answered: “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

Asked for his thoughts once more, Guardiola added: “No, nothing. That’s all.”

As for whether he does not want to be drawn into the discussion, he said: “Of course not, come on. It’s happened, once again.

“Marc has the ball, he (Solanke) kicks it from behind and it’s a goal so what can I say? Nothing, one more.”

His remarks come less than a week after Guardiola had apologised for an outburst aimed at referee Farai Hallam.

The Premier League official had infuriated the City manager with his decision not to award a penalty during last weekend’s win over Wolves.

City streak ended

Guardiola could have no complaints over Spurs’ equaliser, though, as Solanke converted a stunning scorpion kick to haul his side level.

In doing so, the Spurs striker handed City an unwanted piece of history as a near eight-year streak came to an end.

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Their draw represents the first time the visitors have failed to win a match in which they led by two or more goals at halftime since April 2018.

On that occasion, they surrendered a half-time advantage against bitter rivals Manchester United, who came from behind to win at the Etihad Stadium.

City had won on each of the last 115 occasions where they had been two or more goals up at the break prior to Sunday’s draw.

The result also meant City were unable to close the gap to Arsenal back down to four points, with the Gunners, who thumped Leeds 4-0 on Saturday, instead six points clear with 14 matches remaining.