Pep Guardiola dispels Man City myth with reaction to Riyad Mahrez goal

During Manchester City's 4-0 defeat of Southampton on Saturday, Pep Guardiola showcased his full range of touchline antics.

There were goal celebrations, exasperated flailing of the arms after misplaced passes, frantic instructions and all manner of gesticulations. He sat in the dugout, he stood on the touchline, he perched on a drinks cooler when Ederson misplaced a pass for perhaps the first time this season.

All that fed into the stereotype of the City boss being a control freak, a football obsessive caught up in a relentless pursuit of perfection who can never be satisfied, so much so that he forgets to enjoy the art that his genius has created. Perhaps the harshest and most unfair characterisation of Guardiola is that he has no human side, that he is all tactics and no emotion.

READ MORE: Pep Guardiola's touchline reactions prove he knows where Man City can improve

That, of course, is simply untrue, but it has taken the help of Riyad Mahrez to prove it. It's no secret that the Algerian winger has not been in the best form of his City career of late, a somewhat surprising slump given how integral he was to City's success in each of the last two seasons.

In 2020/21, when in the final months of the season Guardiola had a fairly clear 'A team' for Champions League knockout ties and a 'B team' for dead-rubber Premier League games, Mahrez was a key member of the former. He scored three of City's four goals in the 4-1 aggregate defeat of Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals, propelling City to the final of the European Cup for the first time.

Last season his appetite for goals only increased, so much so that he finished the campaign as City's top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions.

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