Pep Guardiola shares training ground joke with Kalvin Phillips about Leeds record vs Man City

Kalvin Phillips says his experiences of facing Manchester City mean he's much happier playing for the Blues rather than against them, as he revealed that Pep Guardiola told him that Leeds almost cost City the Premier League title in 2021.

Phillips was a key part of the Leeds squad that finally earned Championship promotion in 2020, and bloodied a few noses in their first season back in the Premier League — a campaign that saw Leeds take four points off City as Marcelo Bielsa's side impressed with their fearless brand of football.

Even though City scored 11 past Leeds with no reply last season, Phillips says Guardiola still remembers his first two meetings with the Whites as he used it to make a point on the training ground in Houston on City's pre-season tour.

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"We did take four points off City, to be fair Pep said it in the training session the other day," Phillips told British media at City's team hotel in Houston. "He was talking about Leeds and it's a lot different to how we played. Then he said in the first year you took four points off us and nearly cost us the title but in the second season after that we got you back!"

Asked what a player can learn from facing City, Phillips said he might not have seen much of the ball, but always relished the big games against the top players.

"It's very hard to keep the ball. Hard to not concede goals, just the way they play," he said.

"How technical every player is, the tempo they play at and can just change tempo like that and all of a sudden they've got a chance on goal and they score. They don't just settle for 1-0, 2-0, they want to get more goals. I've found it very difficult