Pep Guardiola was far from impressed with the official match ball of the League Cup last night as Manchester City beat Wolves on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes. "The ball is not acceptable to play with at that level" were the words of the City boss.
The ball in question is the Mitre Delta, the official match ball of the English Football League, but Guardiola was highly critical of it in his post-match press conference, claiming it would have been a miracle for Sergio Aguero to have broken his scoring record with it.
"We play with a different ball. It's not Nike, Adidas I don't know, it's a different brand. It's unacceptable to play with the ball. That ball is not a serious ball for a professional game. I say that because we won, eh? If I don't win, I don't say that because after that it's excuses. As I won, I can tell you: it is not acceptable to play."
Augero doing the impossible from the penalty spot.
Guardiola went on to add; "If it's for the marketing, for the money, for many reasons, it's okay but it's not acceptable to play with that ball. No weight, nothing. (We get the balls for) one day or two days, but the ball is bad two days, one month, one year, two years. It's bad, it's bad. The ball is unacceptable for the high of level of the competition. All the players complain. I assure you all of them say 'what is that?' Really. I am sorry Carabao Cup."
18 goals in the other 5 ties on the night would suggest that it's far from impossible to score with it, mind. Pep might want to try and avoid relegation to the Championship anytime soon just to be safe. He's obviously never smashed around a penny floater on his school lunch break. Try scoring with that mate.
Won't even look at it.
