SWANSEA V CITY Gundogan: We were happy to win game

ILKAY Gundogan has defended City’s wild Old Trafford celebrations, which sparked an angry confrontation between the teams and staff.

The Blues played loud music, scattered confetti and sang songs after their 2-1 win over United in the derby.

That prompted Reds boss Jose Mourinho to go into the dressing room and demand they show more respect, resulting in a row and shoving match.

There have been reports of a milk carton and water being thrown towards Mourinho, while United striker Romelu Lukaku was seen leaping on colleagues’ backs in an apparent attempt to get into the City dressing room.

The FA has launched an investigation into the matter, which left Pep Guardiola’s assistant Mikel Arteta with a cut above the eye.

Germany midfielder Gundogan, speaking before news of the bust-up had emerged, felt that the celebrations were warranted.

“I think United had an unbeaten run – I don’t know how many games – here at home. It’s definitely not easy to come here, to play the way we’ve played and especially to win that game.

“So, yeah, it was about a lot of mentality, about a lot of heart and bravery to do these kind of things.

“We just felt like that we are the deserved winners of this game and that’s why we were so happy after the final whistle. Obviously, it was a special game as well.

“It was not just a game. That all made it special.” PEP Guardiola said the bust-up following the Manchester derby had failed to overshadow his team’s performance.

The City boss refused to answer any questions about the way United and their manager, Jose Mourinho, had conducted themselves in the aftermath.

And he has already told his players to forget the incident, now the subject of an FA investigation, and focus on tonight’s trip to Swansea.

There is a view that Mourinho got his way after sparking the brawl in the doorway to the Blues dressing room, by taking the limelight away from his own team’s poor display.

Based on the fact that the sports headlines for the past two days have centred around that incident, rather than around City’s excellent 2-1 win, it appears to have happened. But Guardiola smiled when asked if the row had placed his team’s achievement in the shade – they also set a new Premier League record of 14 straight wins. “People talk a lot about how we play,” he said. “Of course, they also talk about what happened but the game was good, both sides played their way. “We played in our way and we could have scored more goals, and at the end, they could have drawn 2-2, or it could have been 1-4. “Football is like this, our counter-attacks were not perfect. We made mistakes in taking the right decisions to finish the game, which happened many times last season. “I remember when I was in Spain and sometimes saw Patrick Pep Guardiola Vieira with Roy Keane – you know the situation, it’s not the first time, and hopefully it will be the last, but these kind of things sometimes happen.”

Neither club would relish it but there remains the possibility that United and City could draw each other in the Champions League quarter-finals if they come through last 16 ties against Sevilla and Basel respectively.

And with the chance of a Carabao Cup meeting as well, there could be as many as five more derbies this season.

Guardiola said he is not fazed by the prospect of meeting the Reds again, given the obvious bad blood.

“I’ll leave it in the past, I will try to handle it the same way as I did in the past, to focus on the game, to control what I have to do to win games,” he said.

“I told my players to forget about it and that Wednesday against Swansea is the most important thing now, and then Tottenham.

“I stay focussed on the game, it’s what I did all my career and it’s what I’ll do in the future.

“What we control is what we say to our players.”