“What a disaster, Guardiola,” wrote Spanish newspaper AS after Man City lost 0-1 to Crystal Palace in the 2024/25 FA Cup final.

Not only did he miss out on the title and go through his second season without a trophy in his coaching career, Pep Guardiola was also involved in an ugly image at the end of the match.

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Pep Guardiola had a tense clash with Henderson. Photo: PA

As Crystal Palace celebrated at Wembley, Guardiola lost his cool with goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Pep seemed to dislike some of the former Manchester United goalkeeper's actions. He also appeared to be angry that Henderson was not sent off for a handball outside the box. Henderson's controversial incident came after Eberechi Eze had given Palace the opening goal.

Coach Oliver Glasner and some of his teammates had to pull Henderson away from Pep to avoid a collision. Afterwards, when the media questioned the decision regarding Henderson's escape from a red card, Guardiola widened his eyes and looked left and right humorously.

“I am not a referee!” , Guardiola commented. A journalist asked again, he still answered the same: “I am not a referee” .

Regarding the match, Pep said: “We played very well. We did everything and created many chances but unfortunately we could not score.

They scored in the first transition. Football is about goals – they scored one, so congratulations to Crystal Palace.”

Pep did not forget to send a message: "Congratulations to Crystal Palace on their first FA Cup. It's history."

The Spanish strategist admitted he was extremely disappointed to lose the match, but he was still satisfied with the way his team played.

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Eze scored with Crystal Palace's first attack. Photo: The Guardian

Pep explained: “We played better than against Southampton , we were more proactive, and I think we did very well in many aspects.

The game plan didn't work out because we didn't win, but I have no regrets.

The Southampton game I had a bad feeling about, but this time we were sad because it was the FA Cup final; a beautiful day, the songs, the fans, it was a great day.

We are here to win. The team played better than the 5-2 win at home to Palace, and better than last season when we lost to United.”

Now, the Etihad Stadium team's mission is to fight for a ticket to the Champions League next season.

“We have to continue,” Pep reminded his players. “Now is the time to rest and recover quickly for the remaining two ‘final’ matches to secure a ticket to the Champions League.”

Man City's two "final" matches take place against Bournemouth (2am on May 21) and Fulham (10pm on May 25).

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/man-city-thua-crystal-palace-pep-guardiola-au-da-henderson-2402313.html