Believe it or not, Pep Guardiola doesn’t always get things his own way. It’s just he doesn’t make a fuss like Jose Mourinho across Manchester.
When United outbid City for Alexis Sanchez in January, Guardiola shrugged his shoulders and moved on. When a young player like Leroy Sane tested his patience earlier this season, Guardiola delivered a short, sharp lesson rather than issuing a drawn-out public humiliation like those dished out at Old Trafford to Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial.
Yesterday, Guardiola got his reward. Leroy Sane, dropped from City’s last game for lacking focus in training and then criticised by German team-mate Toni Kroos for poor body language, was welcomed back into the fold as a new Dad and took only 98 seconds to mark his return with a goal.