Pep Guardiola said he couldn't control his emotions after jumping on the pitch to celebrate Raheem Sterling's 96th-minute winner in the victory over Southampton on Wednesday, and then explained his chat with Nathan Redmond afterward.

City maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over the Saints and extended their club-record winning streak to 19 games.

Guardiola was also seen having an odd exchange with Southampton winger Redmond after the full-time whistle, gesticulating at the player, but said he was telling him what a good player he was.

"It was a good night, I think all the supporters create some special moments tonight and in the last second we enjoyed the situation," the City boss told a new conference.

"You have to celebrate it. It was a good moment in the last minute, in the locker room, all the staff so happy it makes sense to enjoy our celebration. It makes sense, our job to enjoy these sort of situations.

"I said [to the referee] I apologise because i couldn't control it, I was so happy like all the fans and players. I ran after Raz but I'm not quick enough but we were so happy."

Explaining his comments to Redmond, he added: "I said what good a player he is. Last season he destroyed us here. I didn't know him last season and didn't realise how good he is. Today he could not attack because he defends all the time."

Southampton looked like they would snatch a point after Oriol Romeu had equalised Kevin De Bruyne's fortunate opener that was sliced in by defender Virgil van Dijk.

Sterling had the ball into the net, moments before his winner but the goal was ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

But he curled in a brilliant strike from the edge of the box seconds later for his third late winner in City's last three games.

"[Raheem] is a winning player, winning games," Guardiola added. "Before it was not like this now he's full of confidence,

"I spoke to him last season many times, you have to discover the pleasure for yourself to win games -- to score those goals.

"The guys who score are full of joy. The goal was amazing because there's no space.

"Today it was difficult, we'll see what happens about the future and we have to adapt because there were 10 players in the box and no space to attack. They don't want to play, they want to defend all the time, time-wasting."

Southamtpon boss Mauricio Pellegrino admitted it was a painful defeat after his side played so well and had other chances with Wesley Hoedt hitting the bar and Maya Yoshida wasting another good opportunity.

"It's really frustrating for us but we have to congratulate the opponent," the Argentine said. "It's painful now but we have to accept it.

"We competed well from the beginning till the end, we did 99 percent of the things in the plan we prepared.

"We knew we had to be more patient and make most of set plays. We defended more than normal against a difficult side, one of the best teams in the world at the moment. But I think we can be proud.

"I am proud of my players because we were really competitive. That is one of my goals at this club, to have a group of players with quality, no matter the pitch or the opponent."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by Jonathan Smith

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