Guardiola Reacts After City Leave It Late Against Stubborn Villa

Manchester City secured an important 2-1 win over Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium to move to third in the Premier League table and solidify their chase for a UEFA Champions League spot for next season.

A 94th-minute dramatic goal by Matheus Nunes was enough for Pep Guardiola’s side to collect three points in a match the visitors looked like they would get away with a draw until the Portuguese turned in Jeremy Doku’s low cross at the far post.

City took the lead in the seventh minute when Bernardo Silva scored from Omar Marmoush’s pull-back from the byline.

Ten minutes later, Marcus Rashford converted a controversial penalty after Ruben Dias was adjudged to have tripped Jacob Ramsey.

The win moved City to 61 points from 34 matches, while Villa are rooted in seventh place with 57 points.

Guardiola’s Reaction

Reacting to the result, Guardiola expressed delight at the team’s ability to enter into contention for UEFA Champions League qualification.

“I’m really happy. We’re in the last four in the last five games and a Champions League contender for qualification,” Guardiola said.

“Aston Villa is a team to the last man, one of the top teams in Europe. We played really well. We were aggressive in our duels; the back four was unbelievable.”

Guardiola acknowledged that there’s a lot of pressure from the players and fans to make it into the UEFA Champions League spots.

“Football is emotion. For the fans and players, we have a lot of pressure for the club to go to the Champions League,” he said.

“The players behave unbelievably – we are so pleased.”

City’s next match will be on Sunday, 27 April, in the FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest, which kicks off at 18:30.

Guardiola’s side is aiming to reach the FA Cup final for a third successive season.

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