Manchester City's spirit against Liverpool cannot be questioned, according to Pep Guardiola, whose team exited the FA Cup on Saturday.
City went down 3-2 in their semi-final clash with the Reds at Wembley, as Jurgen Klopp's team took the bragging rights in this particular tussle and progressed to their 15th FA Cup final, albeit their first since 2012 (only Manchester United and Arsenal have appeared in the competition's showpiece match on more occasions).
Six days on from a thrilling 2-2 draw between City and Liverpool in the Premier League, a much-changed team from Guardiola found themselves 3-0 down at half-time.
Ibrahima Konate put Liverpool ahead early on and Sadio Mane doubled their tally in strange fashion when City's second-choice goalkeeper Zack Steffen made a blunder.
Mane's challenge on Steffen diverted the ball into the back of the net and the Liverpool forward got his second with a fine volley late in the first half.
Jack Grealish dragged City back into the contest and Bernardo Silva's goal set up some late tension, yet there would be no famous comeback.
Guardiola, though, could not fault the resolve of his team.
"Our momentum was there in the second half," he told BBC Sport.
"We had the chances to equalise. It was a difficult fixture because we came from somewhere like only we know where we came from, with games we had and the last five or six days away and people with the problems. The guys put in a lot of pride in the second half.
"We gave everything after a tough first half. For the first goal, the set pieces they are very, very strong. The second was an accident. Difficult to come back but they did it perfectly in the second half."
Asked if his team were feeling fatigued after a tough run of fixtures, Guardiola said: "It was not a question of tired. They were more tired in the first [half], football is not about the tiredness, it is about what you do and how it works and how you play.
"We finally have one or two days off. We know we have seven games and the Champions League, we are going to try to push and see what happens."
City have now lost four of their last five matches at Wembley, including three FA Cup semi-finals in the last three seasons, while they conceded three goals in the first half of a match for the first time since April 2018, when they also did so against Liverpool in the Champions League.
Steffen had to hold his hands up for Liverpool's second goal and arguably should have done better for their third.
The United States international's error for Mane's first effort was similar to a mistake made by team-mate Ederson in last week's clash with Liverpool, though the Brazilian got away with it on that occasion.
"It was an accident," Guardiola said. "One of the strong points is try to play [out] and as a goalkeeper he has this quality.
"It was an accident and he will learn for the future. When the ball is there it can always happen. I have spoken with the team, not him personally, but he is strong."
Premier League MD12: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
Pep Guardiola may have signed a new contract at Manchester City, but there was no turnaround in fortunes for the Premier League champions.
City were humbled 4-0 by Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, losing a fifth straight game in all competitions.
Liverpool capitalised on that result, coming from behind to beat lowly Southampton 3-2 on Sunday and moving eight points clear at the top in the process.
Ruben Amorim made his bow as Manchester United boss in a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town at Portman Road, while Chelsea and Arsenal are hot on Man City's heels.
We also saw a managerial departure, with Leicester City parting ways with Steve Cooper after four league matches without a win.
But, who were the unlucky losers, and lucky winners, from the weekend's Premier League fixtures?
Unlucky losers: Fulham
Man City were not the only team to ship four goals on Saturday, with Fulham also having that unwanted badge of honour following their 4-1 home loss to Wolves.
But while Wolves were excellent on the counter and clinical when their chances came, it is fair to say Fulham were unfortunate to concede four times, given they only gave up 1.3 expected goals against (xGA).
Indeed, Fulham and Wolves both had 10 shots, while both teams also had 23 touches in the opponents' box.
It was a bad day at the office for Marco Silva, but he can at least take solace that the numbers suggest they were somewhat unfortunate.
Unlucky losers: Bournemouth
Bournemouth were beaten 2-1 by Brighton on Saturday, as the Seagulls held off their south coast rivals despite Carlos Baleba's red card.
David Brooks pulled one back for Bournemouth late on, as Andoni Iraola's team fell short of their 1.6 xG.
Brighton, on the other hand, accumulated just 0.9 xG, the third-lowest total of any of the 18 games to have been played across Saturday and Sunday.
Bournemouth had 19 shots but only got five of them on target. Brighton, on the other hand, sent four of their six attempts on target.
Lucky winners: Tottenham
Time for some controversy...
Spurs were brilliant against City, with James Maddison marking his 28th birthday with a first-half double before Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson got in on the act after the break.
Yet, the metrics suggest Tottenham were fortunate to keep a clean sheet, with City - who had 23 attempts - accumulating 2.1 xG.
That is not to say Spurs were not impressive going the other way. They finished with 2.5 xG from just nine shots, showing they created high-calibre chances.
But should it really have been 4-0? The numbers suggest not, but then again, stats must always be used within context and should not be all we go off.
Reggae Boyz Magee, Williams help Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC mark 10th anniversary in USL Championship with maiden title
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, home of Reggae Boyz Tyreek Magee and Devon “Speedy” Williams, earned their first USL Championship league title with a 3-0 victory against Rhode Island FC in the final before a sellout crowd of 8,023 fans at Weidner Field on Saturday.
Williams played all 90 minutes while Magee came on as a second half substitute.
The Switchbacks opened the scoring in the 22nd minute through Juan Tejada, who claimed Championship Final MVP.
Three minutes before the halftime interval, sustained pressure from Colorado Springs was rewarded when Jairo Henriquez doubled their advantage.
In the 53rd minute the Switchbacks had their third through Haitian international Ronaldo Damus.
The victory capped the Switchbacks’ 10th anniversary season and maintained their perfect postseason record at home since the opening of Weidner Field in 2021.
As for Magee and Williams’ individual stats throughout the season, Magee scored three goals and provided one assist in 18 appearances while Williams recorded five assists in 36 appearances.
This win also makes Williams now a four-time USL Champion having won with New York Red Bulls II in 2015-16 as well as back to back titles with Louisville City FC in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
The 32-year-old Williams has been capped 35 times by the Reggae Boyz, most recently in a friendly against Guatemala last December while Magee, 25, has earned 13 caps for the Reggae Boyz, most recently against the USA in the Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals last week.
De Bruyne describes 'chaotic' Man City scenes
Kevin De Bruyne conceded there has been some chaos behind the scenes at Manchester City, but refuted the suggestion there is a dark atmosphere.
City have lost their last five games in all competitions, while they are eight points back from leaders Liverpool in the Premier League.
Their dismal run of form continued with a shock 4-0 loss at home to Tottenham on Saturday.
De Bruyne, who has featured just six times in the Premier League this season and made just four starts, says there is not a bad mood in the camp, though.
"I wouldn't say dark, it's been a bit chaotic," said the Belgian ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash with Feyenoord.
"I've seen so many people pass around the medical area, sport science, whose playing and not playing. There's been so many people playing who shouldn't have been playing.
"The games against Sporting, Brighton and Bournemouth were all over the place. Tottenham was more normal.
"I didn't see too much change, everyone is down about the five losses. You have to move on."
City have already shipped 17 league goals this term, while they were beaten 4-1 by Sporting CP in their last European outing.
Since their losing run started with a 2-1 loss to Spurs in the EFL Cup on October 30, City have conceded 14 goals from 10.6 expected goals against (xGA).
"There's only so much you can control from the sides. It's not a nice feeling but it's fine," De Bryne added.
"It seems like we're not really dealing with the moments when it goes bad. There's moments like the Tottenham game which we do really well. The main issue is both boxes. We're conceding too many goals. I don't think we played a bad game the other day but we lost 4-0."
"If you give five chances against Tottenham, that's not that bad. They get two tap-ins. With the way we play, you have to accept there's more opportunity for teams to have a counter. At the moment, we're not dealing with this in a good way.
"We're always going to give a chance away. We're giving it away too many times. When we give a chance at goal, it's basically a goal."
De Bruyne is out of contract at the end of the season, though the 33-year-old is not overly concerned about his future.
"I honestly don't know. At the start of the season, I knew talks would happen but then the thing [injury] happened in Brentford. It was meant to be a couple of days and then it was eight, nine weeks. I put it all to the side," he added.
"I'm not too worried. I'm fine. I'm happy, I just want to play good football again and the future, we'll see.
"I only can really give you the answers, but I don't know. If there's no talks it will be my last year at the club, but I don't know.
"I had a conversation in the summer, but then I had the injury so I wasn't in the right frame of mind to talk about that. I need to be back on the pitch and be myself again. There's no rush, I don't feel uncomfortable, I'm not worried."
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