ANFIELD ATMOSPHERE GOT TO US, SAYS GUARDIOLA

PEP GUARDIOLA admitted Manchester City’s players had lost control in eight frenzied minutes to leave their bid for an unbeaten season in tatters. This was only City’s third Premier League defeat in 12 months — the others came against Chelsea on April 5 and Everton a year ago today — but the manner in which they combusted, conceding goals to Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and a 40-yard strike from Mohamed Salah, left Guardiola startled. He claimed the intensity of the atmosphere at Anfield led his players to do things they have not done all season and Guardiola wants them to learn ahead of games that will define their campaign later in the season. ‘We were involved in the environment from Anfield and you have to try to be stable, especially for lessons in the knockout games in the Champions League,’ said Guardiola. ‘You can concede a goal but you can’t lose. We are still fighting, still trying and we found two goals and that’s all, so it is our first defeat. ‘You need to live those situations to realise what we have done so far. Football is unpredictable. We lost today against a fantastic team. We have to win the next one.’ Guardiola, who refused to discuss a possible move for Alexis Sanchez with City having made it clear they will not pay more than £20million for the Arsenal star, is likely to be without Fabian Delph (right) for a significant period of time. The Englishman overstretched his knee in the 26th minute and left Anfield on crutches, with his right leg in a brace. He will have a scan but Guardiola said it was likely he would be out ‘for a while’. It was a chastening afternoon, but City’s lead remains 15 points and Leroy Sane, who scored their first goal, insisted that it would not stop their march to the title. ‘We show character in every game, we always try to score goals,’ said Sane. ‘We are disappointed. But at the end of the season, when we win the Premier League, nobody cares if we lost a game.’