Pep Guardiola Sees A Bright Future Of Defeat Against Liverpool

JAKARTA - Pep Guardiola said he saw a bright future for Manchester City despite watching his youth team lose to Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, February 23, 2025.

Liverpool took a big step towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 win in that match.

Guardiola left experienced players Ruben Dias, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, and Bernardo Silva on the bench for the team with an average age of only 24.7 years.

Manchester City included three players aged 20 - Rico Lewis, Savinho, and Abdukodir Khusanov - in the starting XI. Despite the results, Guardiola said he was impressed.

"I see a bright future. Apart from Kevin (De Bruyne) and Nathan (Ake), they are the future of this club in the years to come. Others will come on the upcoming transfer market."

"It was a good match. The match was tight in the first half. The first half was more open."

"In the second half they defended very deeply. They always had threats, but it wasn't easy to control them."

"It's great praise for them, but I'm very happy with the way we played," Guardiola told the BBC.

This result leaves The Citizens 20 points behind Liverpool in the standings. They have to work hard to reduce the gap and compete for next season's title.

"You can see it in the standings. They have earned a lot of points. We have lost a lot of points when we weren't supposed to lose."

"For today, I don't have much to say. We are often on the sidelines, the winger is brilliant, but we lack quality to be able to complete (movement)," Guardiola said when asked what was the biggest difference between Liverpool and Manchester City to ESPN.

Meanwhile, Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku said he believed his team deserved more than defeat.

"To be honest, if I look at the game, I don't think they are much better than us."

"Two goals, one ball died and the second goal was a long pass, so they were great. We know their quality and they like to play behind."

"They played well. After that it was difficult to get up against a team that defended well like that," said Doku.