STERLING EFFORT PUT DOWN TO PEP’S LOVE

don’t play. I can’t decide the games. The referee whistles and I move my hands, but it is up to them.

“So I am so happy that Raheem can play and show his talent but when you go left, right, you go left, right or receive the ball in the middle it is not my influence.

“He has a million possibilities in one second so it is up to him. It is not about me – I am just here to help him.”

Guardiola says he has been “killed” in public by former stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Stoke star Xherdan Shaqiri – but he insists you can’t keep every player happy.

He explained: “I spoke with Raheem and the other guys to say we will try to make every single day the best for them. But if they are not playing they cannot understand.

“A lot of players have criticised me because they did not play, like Shaqiri. I spoke with Shaqiri but I cannot tell him every weekend why you don’t play.

“We respect their careers but sometimes I take the decisions and the players who don’t play, they are not happy they are not playing.

“They are not happy for one reason, they feel ‘the coach doesn’t love me’. They don’t feel loved.

“On Friday I had a training session with 30 players. All of them deserve to play. But 19 players won’t play so tell me how you handle that? It is impossible.”