Pep Guardiola has issued a flat denial to suggestions Manchester City deliberately left the Etihad Stadium grass longer than usual for their Premier League game against Liverpool.
Leroy Sane’s second-half winner last Thursday ended Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the season and saw defending champions City move four points behind Jurgen Klopp’s league leaders.
Some Liverpool supporters claimed the grass at the Etihad was not as short as usual and thus had a negative impact on the Reds’ attacking play.
But Guardiola said he has never been involved in discussions over pitch conditions for City’s home games.
“Always we try to put water [on the pitch], here it is not necessary because of the weather conditions and it rains a lot. But I would not suspect that, never, never. We want to try to put the field, always in my career as a manager, in the best conditions for both teams.
“I never made a trick about that. Normally when this kind of thing happens, in the end, I don’t know if this is karma or something like that, it always punishes you. So you have to do the best for the opponent for the game, you have to respect our game and our rules.