Kevin De Bruyne and Pep Guardiola in bust-up during Manchester City draw at Liverpool

Kevin De Bruyne vents his frustration after being substituted by Pep Guardiola in Manchester City's 1-1 draw at Liverpool in March 2024.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Kevin De Bruyne took out his frustration on manager Pep Guardiola after he was substituted by the Catalan in Manchester City's 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Sunday.

City took the lead through John Stones after 23 minutes at Anfield, but the champions were pegged back by an Alexis Mac Allister penalty five minutes into the second period and the game ended all square.

With the scores at 1-1 and just over 20 minutes left to play, Guardiola opted for a double change, sending on Mateo Kovacic in place of De Bruyne and replacing Julian Alvarez with Jeremy Doku.

The substitution clearly upset De Bruyne and the Belgian was shouted angrily at Guardiola and the City coaching staff as he walked off the pitch.

De Bruyne also threw his arms in the air, but took his seat on the bench and watched the rest of the match with his team-mates.

Liverpool were on top at the time and on commentary, Gary Neville said: "Well that tells you all you need to know about how Liverpool are controlling this game. He’s having a little whinge at Pep Guardiola, well actually it's a big whinge! He's still going, look.

"This ground does something to them, we know how good City are, they’re one of the best teams in the world but Anfield never goes well for them and it hasn’t in this second half."

De Bruyne and Guardiola could then be seen in conversation, presumably discussing the decision, and the manager said after the match that the midfielder's reaction was not a problem.

Sunday's draw means City are in third place, just. apoint behind Liverpool in second, with Arsenal ahead of Jurgen Klopp's side on goal difference alone with 28 rounds of matches played.

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Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.

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