Pep Guardiola says that Manchester City should focus on the positives of a 21-game winning streak rather than their derby day defeat to Manchester United after they were downed on Sunday.
Bruno Fernandes' quick penalty and Luke Shaw's tidy strike gave the Red Devils a celebrated local victory at the Etihad Stadium, bringing their rivals' remarkable record-breaking run to an end.
But the Blues manager, while admitting that his side were outclassed up front by their visitors, says that the real story should be their near-two-dozen-game achievement, one they will use to push themselves on for the rest of the season.
What did Guardiola say?
"We will be the news because we lost," the Spaniard told Sky Sports. "But the news is 21 victories in a row.
"There are still 30 points to play and we have to start to win again. That's football. Sometimes it happens.
"It was a fantastic game. United are incredibly high pressing and they are so fast on the counter. We played good. Unfortunately we couldn't be clinical up front so we congratulate United.
"It's always the same. We win a game and then move onto the next one. It's the same here. We lose this so we go to the next one. It's a lesson. Even at 0-2, we played really well."
Guardiola also weighed in on his side's performance compared to their narrow win over West Ham last weekend, adding that his side played better against United than they did in victory over David Moyes' Hammers.
"Against West Ham we played much, much worse than today," he told BBC Sport. "Against West Ham we didn't deserve to win and maybe today we didn't deserve to lose."
United prove Guardiola's bogeyman again
The Spaniard had only lost as many games as he had against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Red Devils versus Liverpool and Chelsea before kick-off - and now they are his biggest crutch outright.
Guardiola has fallen six times in defeat to United in charge of the Blues, as many times as he has bested them too since his arrival at the Etihad Stadium.
Today's home loss makes it three such results on the bounce against the club's biggest neighbours in City's own back yard, while the 50-year-old's points-per-game yield against Solskjaer is the worst of his career against any manager with five or more meetings.
Further reading
- Guardiola admits he was not proud of unrecognisable Man City
- Why Aguero is no longer pivotal to Pep's plans
- De Bruyne explains Chelsea exit & Man City surprise
