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18 Months Ago, Pep Guardiola Called Tottenham The "Harry Kane Team"

18 Months Ago, Pep Guardiola Called Tottenham The "Harry Kane Team"

Manchester City were eliminated by Spurs in the Champions League, whilst Harry Kane was sidelined with injury...

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare

This hasn't aged very well, has it? 18 months ago, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola called Spurs the 'Harry Kane team'.

In a press conference in October, 2017, the former Barcelona boss caused controversy when he said the following about their Premier League rival:

"We're in September. Chelsea won 13 games in a row last season." Guardiola said last year.

"They were unbeatable, they won the league. It's not easy. Of course this season they play in Europe. It's a little more complicated for all the teams.

"We have United [and] the Harry Kane team who scores every game two or three goals. Jose with United will always be tough. That is a Jose Mourinho team, aggressive winning duels and so quick on the counter attack. They are already convinced they can do it in this way. It will be tough."

The comments have eventually come back to bite Guardiola, with a last minute goal from Raheem Sterling being ruled out by VAR to send Tottenham, who were without Harry Kane, to the Champions League semi-final.

Just check out the agonising scenes in the final minutes of the game.

It's safe to say Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was far from happy with Guardiola's comments at the time, but he won't care too much tonight.

As quoted by Football London, the Spurs boss said:

"It was funny when I heard him the other day because I know Pep very well. When it's exciting after an amazing victory against Chelsea, sometimes [he] can struggle to keep his position and be a gentleman.

"I take that situation... That didn't affect me but the reality is it was very disrespectful for many people and it's difficult to understand because he was part of the big success at Barcelona with Messi at his best, and I never said it was 'the Messi team'.

"I always said it was Barcelona or Pep Guardiola. I think everyone deserves to be recognised as part of the success of the team. But I think many people took those words as very disrespectful for the club, and for many players that are here I think it's a strange situation. In my case personally I didn't take it in a bad way. It wasn't disrespectful for myself."

How things can change in football.

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Topics: Manchester City, Spurs, Football News, Football, Pep Guardiola, Champions League, Harry Kane