Pep Guardiola hails Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti

In a recent interview, Carlo Ancelotti called Pep Guardiola a ‘genius’, looking at the way his team has been performing in recent years. However, Pep dismissed the tag given to him by the Everton boss and warned that the Italian's sides have beaten Pep’s teams most of the time.

It was not long until Pep reciprocated and lauded the Italian as one of the most decorated managers in European football. Pep said,” Everton is Everton, one of the biggest, most traditional, historical teams in England with incredible quality in its players. They have struggled a bit this season for points but the quality is there.”

“A manager like Carlo with his incredible capacity, he is one of the smartest guys and he is able- it doesn’t matter which team he takes, he makes them work. We played a few times against each other, not much. His teams always beat our teams.” 

Ancelotti’s 100% record with Everton was ended by Guardiola’s side as they secured a very nervous win in a game that became edgy post the mistake by the former Barcelona keeper, Claudio Bravo.

The match ended 2-1, with Gabriel Jesus scoring a brace. He had several chances of a hattrick or even more but he failed to capitalize. However, Everton struck back late, courtesy of a goal scored by Richarlison.

Moise Kean who was subbed in the game in the 66th minute missed a clear chance too while attempting a stunner. VAR also played an important role in Pep’s game again as a beautiful team goal scored by Phil Foden was ruled out correctly, Riyad Mahrez being offside in the build-up.

Guardiola looked satisfied with his team’s efforts and also shared his thoughts on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s challenge on Fernandinho which left the City players furious, claiming that the player should have been sent off. Ancelotti dismissed Pep’s claim in the post-match interview, calling it a fair and square decision by the referee. 

featured image credits- telegraph.co.uk