MAURICIO POCHETTINO has apologised to Pep Guardiola and the match officials for his raging finale to Chelsea’s 4-4 draw with Manchester City.
Poch said he “deserved to be booked” for an X-rated rant at the full-time whistle sounding just as his Blues’ side scented a winner, as well as for for neglecting to shake City chief Guardiola’s hand.
The Chelsea boss admitted his behaviour was “not a good image” for both himself and football as a whole.
Guardiola claimed he has faced similar reactions in the dugout from Pochettino in the past but was “completely fine” about it.
Poch was in a frenzy at the end – keen to see Chelsea snatch victory despite Cole Palmer rescuing them a point with a stoppage-time penalty.
Marc Cucurella was surging forward – with Raheem Sterling well placed in attack – only for referee Anthony Taylor to signal for full time.
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Pochettino responded by exploding at the fourth official, but was held back by his bench as he tried to get out to the middle.
He appeared to scream “what the f***?” as he waved his arms around.
Questioned afterwards, the Argentinian said: “I need to apologise to Anthony [Taylor] and the officials.
“In this moment, I feel Raheem [Sterling] can go through to score the fifth. In this moment when we finish the game, I turn to Anthony and say ‘What the, you know, is going on? Why stop in this moment the action?’
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“Then I turned and said ‘I deserve to be booked’ because yes, I crossed the limit. I want to apologise because it is not a good image for me and for football, this type of behaviour.”
As for ignoring Guardiola, he added: “I want to apologise to him also. In this moment, I didn’t see him. I was only focused on the action. So I want to apologise to Pep also.”
But the Spaniard said: “It is not a problem. I don’t want to talk about that, it is fine. Everyone with the emotions, it happened to me sometimes.
“It’s fine, honestly. I don’t want you to misunderstand me, in the past it happened with Pochettino but its fine. Completely, completely fine.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
