Pep Guardiola was delighted to see his side claim a derby win against United and was particularly full of praise for two of his players.
Pep Guardiola advanced to his fourth Carabao Cup final after watching his side ease past rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
City were not in full strength with some players missing due to coronavirus. However, goals from Stones and Fernandinho were enough to seal the game and secure them a final berth against Tottenham at Wembley.
Of late, John Stones and summer signing Ruben Dias have proven to be a formidable partnership in defence for Guardiola.
In all of the games they have started together, the Citizens are yet to lose a single game.
While Guardiola was pleased with his side’s overall victory, he could not hide his praises for his solid back pairing.
“Ruben lives with football 24 hours and he is giving us something special,” the City boss said per the club’s website.
“Congrats to Txiki and the club for bringing this player here because he will be outstanding for many years to come.”
John Stones scored the opener for City and also kept Marcus Rashford quiet on the evening. He was awarded the Man-of-the-match for that fixture and also got praise from Guardiola as well.
“He came back and he make another outstanding performance – but the most important thing is he can do something he hasn’t been able to do – play four, five games in a row,” he added.
“This is important. He has to handle Rashford, who is dangerous and clever, and the quality of his passes to Joao were outstanding.”
“All the team, Fernandinho, our captain, what performance again. Outstanding. All the players – Gundogan, Raheem, Phil…all the team.”
“All credit (to John). Football is a long career – it is up and down, sometimes bad moments. We can help him but when someone plays like this, its credit to him. Hopefully, he can continue in this way.”
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