Pep Guardiola Launches Attack on Mitre Match Balls Following League Cup Win
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has slammed the match ball used in Tuesday night's Carabao Cup encounter with Wolves - branding the Mitre ball used in the competition as "unacceptable".
The Premier League leaders were forced to a penalty shootout by their opponents, going the entire 120 minutes without a single goal - though the game was not without excitement.
Chilean keeper Claudio Bravo was forced into making some brilliant saves throughout the match, with City struggling to carve Wolves open like they already have with so many top flight teams this season.
Bravo came to the rescue again after extra time, stopping two penalties before Sergio Aguero panenka'd his side's winner to take them through to the quarter-final. However, Pep still found the time to present a huge complaint regarding the match ball:
"The ball is not acceptable to play with... at that level," Guardiola told reporters after the game, via Sky Sports.
"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.
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"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.
"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."
