Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola considered his team’s match against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup to be the perfect welcome for the new players so that they can understand what they will face in English football.
City fell behind by one goal to none against Leyton, who are in the third division, before managing to win hard 2-1 to qualify for the fifth round of the prestigious English competition.
The match witnessed the participation of Omar Marmoush, and Abdulkadir Khusanov scored his first goal for the City shirt, in addition to the participation of the latest arrival, Nico Gonzalez, but he was injured after only 15 minutes and was substituted.
After the match, Guardiola was asked about his message to the new players, to which he replied, “When I came to England, I went to face Stoke City and then I immediately understood what the English Premier League is.”
He added, “I think this match is the best welcome for our new players.”
The philosopher mocked the Premier League referees due to Nico Gonzalez’s injury, saying: “Welcome to the Premier League and its referees, I think he is now more aware of the nature of referees.”
He concluded: “We played a good match, maybe we faced some difficulties in the first quarter of an hour, but after that we controlled the match and created many chances and succeeded in winning.”
City will now head to prepare for the most important match expected against Real Madrid next Tuesday, which will be held at the Etihad Stadium in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 play-off.
