<\/p>\n
By Jang Ha-jun, SPOTV News \u2014 Pep Guardiola pushed back forcefully on the postmatch controversy over his players\u2019 celebrations, directly rebutting Wayne Rooney\u2019s criticism of Manchester City\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n
Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-1 on April 20 (Korean time) at the Etihad Stadium in the 33rd round of the 2025\u201326 Premier League season. Rayan Cherki opened the scoring in the first half, and Erling Haaland added a second-half goal to seal the win. Arsenal\u2019s only goal came from Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n
The victory moved City to 67 points, keeping them in second and cutting the gap to leaders Arsenal to three points. With a game in hand, they still have a chance to reclaim the top spot depending on the result at Burnley. After chasing all season, the result provided a crucial momentum shift.<\/p>\n
But the story after the final whistle wasn\u2019t limited to the result. Rooney criticized what he called an excessive celebration by City\u2019s players, suggesting it may have been premature. Guardiola responded decisively.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can say anything. Sometimes they say foolish things,\u201d Guardiola said, clearly irritated. \u201cThe players celebrated because they know how strong the opposition is. If we hadn\u2019t won this match, our challenge would have been over,\u201d he added, underlining the importance of the victory.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still in the title race. It would be odd not to express joy in this situation,\u201d he continued. \u201cRespecting the opponent is one thing, but we also have the right to show our emotions in our own way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardiola said he always tells his players to enjoy the moment. \u201cWaiting until the end of the season to celebrate makes no sense. What\u2019s the point of playing if you don\u2019t celebrate when you win? You should share that moment with the fans every match,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He closed by stressing how big the Arsenal game felt for his squad. \u201cThis game was like a final for us. It might not have been for them, but we treated it that way,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cThat\u2019s why the celebrations were natural.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Guardiola defends players’ right to celebrate amid Rooney’s criticism of Manchester City’s celebrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/thumbnail\/2026\/04\/CP-2022-0020\/thumb-2ba96581-b330-496f-ae49-bfd8ccb7db7e.jpg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278095],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n