Pep Guardiola has claimed that Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez were “perfect” during a night out enjoyed by the Manchester City players and some backroom staff on Sunday.
Video footage that went viral on social media showed the players apparently being turned away from a bar in Manchester, with the person who filmed it claiming Grealish was “drunk”. The club denied this and said no rules had been broken with regard to the timing of the evening because Monday was a day off.
Guardiola brushed off the incident by joking: “I’m so upset because they didn’t invite me. I don’t like it – hopefully next time they can invite me for dinner. The video didn’t show exactly what happened.”
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The manager was clear he had no issue with any of the players. “[They all had] dinner together sober, enjoying it with their mates and backroom staff. The players know the risk when they go out because of social media but all of them – Riyad, Kyle, Jack – were perfect.” He added playfully: “But they will be fined because they didn’t invite me.”
Guardiola was asked whether his players can be treated unfairly on social media and in the wider media. “In this case yes,” he said.
City host Brentford on Wednesday night, with the champions holding a nine-point lead over Liverpool, who have a game in hand over them. Next Tuesday City are at Sporting for the Champions League last-16 first leg and the club are also in contention for the FA Cup, visiting Peterborough in the fifth round.
“It’s a long run until the big prizes, a long time,” Guardiola said. “We had an incredible January in terms of game, rest, game, rest, one week off; yet the players came back really well from this and played really well against Fulham [winning 4-1 on Saturday] – they came back with our principles.
“But, yes, we arrive now at the important point of the season and we know how many points we have to win [to defend the title], because especially Liverpool will lose only a few points, so we have to be ready.”
