Pep Guardiola felt he deserved more respect from the Liverpool fans than to be taunted during Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield on Sunday.
The City manager was subjected to chants he would be “sacked in the morning” as the Reds closed in on a victory that condemned the champions to a fourth successive Premier League loss.
It is the worst run of Guardiola’s glittering career but he responded to the jibes by holding up six fingers to represent the number of league titles he has won with City.
It was a good-humoured but nevertheless defiant gesture from Guardiola, whose past battles with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are among the competition’s most storied.
Guardiola, who has now lost six out of seven in all competitions, said: “I’m so proud of my six Premier Leagues against that team (Liverpool) and the previous teams.
“I didn’t expect Anfield to start to chant at 0-2 that I would be sacked.
“Maybe I deserve to be sacked, honestly, with our results, or maybe I’m still in the job because I won six Premier Leagues and a lot of titles!
“But I didn’t expect them to sing at 0-2. Maybe they should sing at 0-1 when the game was tighter or maybe last season or the previous season.
“Maybe in Brighton they did it, so I understand, but at Anfield I didn’t expect it. But it’s fine. It’s part of the game. When you win, you laugh, when you lose, they laugh. I have to accept it.”
