We need to live this – Pep Guardiola relishes battle as City rally at Newcastle

Pep Guardiola welcomed the adversity Manchester City had to fight their way through at Newcastle as they attempt to defend their Premier League crown.

The champions trailed 3-1 at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon before scrapping their way to a 3-3 draw in a thrilling encounter with Eddie Howe’s men.

Reflecting on a pulsating afternoon on Tyneside, Guardiola said: “Why not give credit to the Newcastle team? Brentford beat (Manchester) United 4-0 and everyone talks about how bad are United, and Brentford? They did something good, no?

“When you take these type of players with this quality, it can happen. It’s the beginning of the season and I think it’s really, really good for us to live this kind of experience.

“We spoke about that at half-time, ‘we need to live this, 2-1 down, we’ll see what happens now, how we are as a team, let’s go’.

“That’s what we have to do, we to live these kind of situations. That’s why the Premier League is so difficult. Everyone is going to drop points and we have dropped the first two, but considering how we behaved from 2-1 down…”

City took a fifth-minute lead through Ilkay Gundogan, but found themselves behind at the break after Miguel Almiron and then Callum Wilson, in front of England boss Gareth Southgate, struck.

Kieran Trippier extended the home side’s lead with a fine free-kick, but goals from City’s £51million summer signing Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva ensured the visitors left with something to show for their efforts.

Asked if he had feared the game was beyond them at 3-1, Guardiola’s mind went back to last season’s 3-2 victory over Aston Villa in which City trailed 2-0 with 14 minutes remaining.

He said: “After what happened against Aston Villa – in five minutes, we scored