'We destroyed them in UCL final': Pep Guardiola's savage reply to Patrice Evra's criticism

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has torn into Manchester United legends Patrice Evra and Dimitar Berbatov for questioning his ability as a manager. The Spaniard cited the Red Devils' defeat to Barcelona in the 2009 UEFA Champions League final, in which the duo had played and lost 0-2.

The two Manchester United legends criticised the decorated manager after his side recently lost 5-6 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League semifinal, despite having a lead of two goals until the 90th minute of the match.

Pep Guardiola hits back at Patrice Evra

Patrice Evra had criticized Pep Guardiola for not being able to train players with personality. The 51-year-old responded by stating, "You cannot have personality because you concede two goals in one minute after you have chances to score? And after the last four games, we scored 19 goals so we have incredible personality and these kinds of things? I'm sorry but I completely disagree."

Meanwhile, Dimitar Berbatov had compared Manchester City's mentality in the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid to that of a 'small club,' which fell apart under pressure. In response to the criticisms of the Manchester United players, the Spanish manager hit back:

"The same character and personality that lost in Madrid is what we have had for the last years. Specialist former players like Berbatov, (Clarence) Seedorf and Evra and these types of people weren't there. I've played against them, and I didn't see this kind of personality when we destroyed United in the Champions League final."

He went on to explain how his club has personality by stating, "Personality is what we have done in the last five years every three days in all competitions. Maybe Liverpool is going to win all four titles or maybe just one but I'm going to say that they don't have personality and character. What you say they didn't do an incredible season even when they lost the league by one or two points to us? We arrive until the end playing good because otherwise you don't arrive. This is the most important thing."

Manchester City's success under Pep Guardiola

Even though Manchester City have not won the elusive UEFA Champions League under Pep Guardiola, one cannot take away their success in the past five seasons under the Spaniard. Since Pep took over the job at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, the Citizens have gone on to win three Premier League titles and are also on course to win their fourth this season. They have also won an FA Cup and a staggering four consecutive EFL Cups from 2017-18 to 2020/21.