Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola fumed at Matheus Nunes on Saturday after the Portuguese star was guilty of one of his biggest bugbears – giving away a needless foul throw. Nunes has been played out of position as a make-shift right-back this season, with mixed results.
After loaning Kyle Walker to AC Milan, Nunes has become the first choice right back under Guardiola and has started 16 games in total.
He played the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 win over Everton this weekend and impressed, providing an assist for Nico O’Reilly’s opening goal – taking his tally of assists this season to eight in all competitions.
However, the 26-year-old still earned the wrath of his manager at Goodison Park after committing a foul throw, which is one of the Spaniard’s pet peeves.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Guardiola was visibly irritated after seeing Nunes make the infringement – which delighted the home crowd.
It goes on to say that Guardiola was up off his feet to make his presence known behind Nunes after the unfortunate mistake.
Luckily for Nunes, he went on to make amends by assisting O’Reilly in the 84th minute as City left it late to secure victory, before Mateo Kovacic added a second in stoppage time.
It was a vital win for City in their bid to wrap up Champions League qualification and Guardiola reserved special praise for his players for showing “character” after the game.
“If you win you have character, if you don’t win you don’t have character – this is the motto,” said Guardiola.
“What these players have done for one decade, I am so grateful for, whatever has happened – this season more than ever, in the toughest period for many reasons especially injuries.
“We were more or less stable, kept going and going for the next time. We are miles away from Liverpool and Arsenal but tonight we sleep fourth.
“It is in our hands but we have a final on Tuesday, three games at home, two away and hopefully we can achieve this big success to qualify for the Champions League.”
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