Pep Guardiola is not jealous of a career in journalism (Picture: Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola was in bullish mood after Manchester City beat Brentford, reminding critics of Erling Haaland that he will ‘shut your mouth’ while also telling a journalist: ‘My life is better than yours.’
Haaland scored the only goal of the game as the champions edged out the Bees at the Etihad and went within one point of league-leaders Liverpool.
The Norwegian superstar had not scored in his previous two games, with just two goals in seven matches before his strike against Brentford and Guardiola suggested anyone criticising his forward should expect a reaction.
‘When I was young, I was not a journalist but an old friend said to me “top scorers strikers score a lot of goals, don’t criticise, he will shut your mouth”,’ said Guardiola.
The City boss pointed out that not only has Haaland been recovering from a serious injury but also a family tragedy during his recent lean spell.
‘Sooner or later he is there. He was out for two months, he lost his grandmother, it is not easy for a human being,’ said the Spaniard.
‘If I have to choose one player [to get a chance] I would choose this one.’
Haaland scored his 17th Premier League goal of the season on Tuesday (Picture: Getty Images)
After Guardiola’s mention of journalism in his previous answer, he was asked why he never wanted to be a journalist and said: ‘I am a manager. My life is better than yours. But nothing personal with you.’
Fair enough.
There was one concern for Guardiola on Tuesday as Kevin De Bruyne remained on the bench throughout the game, struggling with a slight hamstring problem.
‘Today we could not use Kevin because he had niggles in his hamstring and I didn’t want to take risk,’ said the manager.
‘He’s OK. It’s just a precaution but he didn’t feel comfortable, and so after five months off we didn’t take any risk.’
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