Pep Guardiola suggested Manchester City missed the chance to claim victory when on top against Liverpool and insisted his side must win all their remaining Premier League games otherwise the title race will be over.
Liverpool were as far as 14 points behind in mid-January, but a 10-game winning run in the league slashed City’s lead to just one point to set up what was billed as the title decider at the Etihad Stadium.
Kevin De Bruyne struck after just five minutes with his sixth goal in as many games on Sunday, before Diogo Jota soon restored parity in a thrilling end-to-end affair.
Gabriel Jesus then found the net against Liverpool for a fifth time in all competitions, only scoring more for City against Everton (eight), to send Jurgen Klopp’s side in at half-time trailing in the league for the first time this season.
Sadio Mane immediately levelled after the interval to keep the title race alive and Guardiola called on City to win their remaining seven games to win the league.
“Both teams wanted to try to win, we did everything we could but unfortunately we could not win,” he told Sky Sports.
“I had the feeling we handed them a life, but listen Liverpool is a joy to watch and the threats they have in attack, how good they are, so no doubts about how difficult they are.
“But I think we performed really, really well, I’m so incredibly proud of my team. Now, both teams know with seven games left we have to win all of them, otherwise it will be over.
“In Anfield, we played an incredible first half and it was the same result, I had the feeling we missed an opportunity to get three points but it doesn’t matter what happened this game, this was never going to be over.
“I would say the same with defeat, or victory, this was massive game to take advantage of, but we know what we have to do.
“Go to [Atletico] Madrid [in the Champions League quarter-final return leg], then FA Cup [semi-final against Liverpool] then back to the Premier League and win as many as possible.
“Seven games in the Premier League is a lot to play, it will be tough, I don’t know whether we are going to win the title at the end of the season but to be in the game, like we played today, it makes me admire a lot to perform that way.”
Guardiola also hailed the work of Jesus, who has scored four times against Klopp’s Liverpool in the Premier League, as he explained his match-by-match plan for each specific opponent.
“Gabriel Jesus deserves to play a lot, he is a fantastic person but all of them, [Ilkay] Gundogan, Ruben [Dias] they all have quality but we thought we could find spaces with the players we put out for the way they pressed today,” he added.
“Maybe next Saturday [in the FA Cup semi-final] from what we saw, maybe we change something. I put out a specially specific line-up for the demands of the team we are going to play, not because of who I prefer.”
Klopp and Guardiola are familiar foes, given their time spent managing Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in Germany, and the Spaniard expressed his admiration for his opposite number.
“Listen, I don’t know if Jurgen respects me but I respect him a lot, he has made me a better manager with his sides in Germany with Bayern and Dortmund, and then here,” he added.
“His teams are always positive and want to attack, I try to imitate him in that sense. We are not friends, we don’t have dinner together, I don’t call him but I have a lot of respect for him, but he knows next Saturday I’m going to try and beat him.”