“I know Pep very well and when he is excited, after an amazing victory against Chelsea, sometimes he struggles to keep his position and be a gentleman,” Pochettino said.
“The situation didn’t affect me but, in reality, it was very disrespectful for many people. It’s difficult to understand because Pep was part of the big success at Barcelona, when it was Messi at his best. And I never said it was the Messi team. I always said it was Barcelona and it was Pep Guardiola. I think everyone deserves to be recognised as being part of the success of the team.
“I think that many people took his words as very sad and disrespectful to the club. And for many players that are here – it’s a strange situation. Personally I didn’t take it in a bad way. It wasn’t disrespectful to me. I only express my feeling that, for a lot of people, it was unnecessary to say that.”
It remains to be seen whether Pochettino would consider reacting to Guardiola’s latest pop at the Argentinian, but the Man City boss has bigger problems to be concerned about after seeing his side fail to take advantage of Arsenal’s defeat on Saturday, leaving them five points adrift in the title race.
