Roy Keane has mocked Pep Guardiola after the Manchester City manager’s frosty interview ahead of his side’s FA Cup fourth-round clash against Arsenal - chiding the Spaniard to “smile more.”
Working as a pundit on the ITV coverage of the contest on Friday evening, Keane smirked as he made the jibe after Guardiola appeared to take exception to the line of questioning from ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke.
Clarke’s questions were largely about the below full-strength side the Gunners had selected, as well as Guardiola’s relationship with opposition boss Mikel Arteta, who used to be his assistant at City.
His answers were largely monotone, leading to a frosty, awkward atmosphere as Clarke gamely kept plugging away with further inquiries despite little response.
“You are asking me about the Arsenal selection?” Guardiola responded incredulously when initially asked about the Gunners line-up. “Mikel has come here?”
“Not yet'” responded Clarke. “Well, ask him,” fumed the Spaniard, before grumpily muttering “It's his decision, I approve what every manager does.”
Guardiola shrugged when asked whether he thought it was Arsenal’s strongest line-up before offering, “It's a decision for Mikel - what can I say.”
Clarke’s final question was whether the two managers would share a drink and a conversation at the end of the match, with Guardiola simply saying, “more than welcome", then storming away from the interview area glaring at Clarke.
Back in the ITV studio, presenter Mark Pougatch couldn’t help but chuckle as he said, “He wasn't very chatty, was he? And that was Gabriel being nice as well!”
Pundit Ian Wright then weighed in, backing Clarke and questioning the attitude of Guardiola.
“It looked like hard work,” said Wright. “It's funny, I never hear anything out of these interviews. He [Guardiola] always seems like he's someone who doesn't want to be doing them.
“It's really strange because I thought Gabe was on good form there. He wasn't being nasty.”
With a smirk on his face, the famously grumpy Keane then mischievously piped up, “I think Pep should smile a bit more - and that's coming from me!”, which prompted roars of laughter from his broadcast colleagues.
