Football: Guardiola labels late winner ‘the moment’ of Man City reign

Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring the winner against Fulham. REUTERS

LONDON – Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s dramatic 2-1 win against Fulham on Saturday the finest moment of his remarkable reign at the Etihad Stadium.

City were in danger of dropping points in the English Premier League title race after Joao Cancelo was controversially sent off in the first half.

But Erling Haaland came off the bench to convert a penalty deep into stoppage-time as 10-man City moved to the top of the table ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea on Sunday.

Haaland’s winner sparked jubilant celebrations from City boss Guardiola, who claimed the champions’ gritty victory ranked as the defining moment of his six years in Manchester.

Despite scoring 23 goals in 17 matches this season, the 22-year-old Norwegian has not started City’s last three games due to injury and said the spot-kick was “was one of the most nervous moments of my life”.

He told the BBC: “A penalty in the last minute? Of course I would be nervous. But it was about getting through the situation in the proper way and I did that. It was a fantastic feeling to score.”

Guardiola understood Haaland’s emotions, saying: “It was long time before he could put the ball down and take the penalty. It means you can think a lot.

“Erling has also had two or three weeks with no training, you can lose your rhythm and your tempo. So, the penalty was not the best penalty I have ever seen in my life but I would say he hit it strong.

“When you play soft to one side, it is 50-50 (whether it will be saved or not). If it is strong it is 75-30 - ah, sorry 75-15. Mathematics, I am not a genius!”

City have won the Premier League four times in the last five seasons, while also lifting the FA Cup and League Cup under Guardiola.

But the Spaniard felt the character shown by his players against Fulham surpassed everything that had come before.

“Everyone was exceptional for 65 minutes against Fulham, playing the way we played,” he said. “It was the moment of my period here in Manchester so far and, of course, the goal at the end, celebrating with our people – we didn’t win the Premier League here today, of course, but this moment makes sense of our job for all us.

“It was so exciting. After seven years, you always have doubts: Do people follow you? Are they tired? Are people annoyed in their jobs? Many thousands of millions of meetings, training sessions and travel, but today you say, wow, you see, they are there.

“They still want to do it... We won because my players are beyond exceptional.”

City had looked comfortable early on and went ahead through Julian Alvarez after 16 minutes. The Argentinian forward received a pass from Ilkay Gundogan, kept his cool and lashed the ball in off the crossbar.

However, the game changed after Cancelo bundled over Harry Wilson to concede a penalty and see red.

Ex-Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira buried the spot-kick on 26 minutes and it required fit-again Haaland to finally end Fulham’s stubborn second-half resistance.

Guardiola had no complaints about Cancelo’s sending off, saying: “He was the last man. It was soft contact but there cannot be contact. It is a red card.”

While Haaland once again finished as City’s hero, Kevin de Bruyne also played a key role by winning the late penalty.

“I have said he is not at his best in the recent past – but he was completely the opposite today. He put the team on his shoulders,” Guardiola said.

The win also meant that City have now put together a 15-game winning streak on home soil in all competitions.

Meanwhile Fulham manager Marco Silva told the BBC: “It was cruel for us. Hard to take. Everyone is down now in the dressing room but it shows our commitment and our ambition to come here and embrace this great challenge against City.” AFP, REUTERS

Julian Alvarez celebrates scoring city’s first goal. PHOTO: REUTERS

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