I am human – Pep Guardiola defends his celebrations as Man City win Carabao Cup

Pep Guardiola said “I am a human being” as he defended his wild celebrations in Manchester City’s 2-0 Carabao Cup final victory against Arsenal.

Guardiola channelled his inner Jose Mourinho as he sprinted along the Wembley touchline before kicking an advertising board following Nico O’Reilly’s quickfire second-half brace.

Riccardo Calafiori hit a post, and Gabriel Jesus struck the crossbar, as Arsenal went in search of a response but City saw out the win as Guardiola landed the 19th trophy of his remarkable 10-season City tenure.

“I wanted another yellow card and that is why I did it,” joked Guardiola when quizzed about his celebration. “That was the target.

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— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) March 22, 2026

“Listen, if I can’t celebrate in the moment against a team like Arsenal, and the way we were playing… My emotions are related to the way we are playing. I react when it is OK, we scored a goal, and emotions came out.

“I am not artificially intelligent, I am a human being, and I want to celebrate. It was not showing disrespect to Arsenal or for the other fans, I just celebrated with my people. And when I feel it, I express it.”

Guardiola became the first manager in history to win the Carabao Cup five times, and, despite question marks over his City future, he indicated he has no desire to walk away at the end of the season.

“It is so difficult to win titles, it doesn’t matter if it is the Premier League or the Champions League, but to win against that team made the title special,” he added.

“Alongside Barcelona and Bayern Munich as well, they are the best team in Europe. And what we have done by winning 19 titles in 10 years in the modern era, in England, in Europe, it is