Pep Guardiola, who leads Manchester City, suddenly devalued the Carabao Cup, upset Liverpool fans.
British media “Daily Mail” reported on the 27th (Korea time) that “Guardiola offended fans of rival teams when he first arrived in Manchester City, saying he was told that no one cared about the Carabao Cup.”
The final of the Carabao Cup for the 2023-24 season ended on the 26th. This season’s Carabao Cup champion was Liverpool, who defeated Chelsea after 120 minutes of extra time and won 1-0.
Liverpool won its 10th League Cup thanks to team captain Virgil van Dijk’s header winning goal in the 13th minute of the second half of extra time, even though there were nine first-team injuries, including Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In particular, this season is Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp’s last season, so the victory in the Carabao Cup came as special. Klopp, a world-class coach who has led Liverpool since 2015, said he had run out of energy and decided to lead the team and leave only this season, although the contract period remains.
That’s why Liverpool fans dreamed of lifting as many trophies as possible this season to make Klopp’s last appearance spectacular. Although it is less prestigious than the Premier League and FA Cup, he succeeded in presenting another trophy to Klopp by winning the Carabao Cup, one of the domestic cup competitions.
Meanwhile, after Liverpool won the Carabao Cup, Manchester City head coach Guardiola suddenly expressed doubts that winning the Carabao Cup was receiving so much attention.
According to the media, Guardiola said, “I remember what Brian Kidd (former Manchester City coach) said to me when I arrived at Manchester City.” What Kidd said to Guardiola was, “Don’t pay attention in the Carabao Cup. No one cares, but let the young players play.” 노래방알바
“Even Sir Alex Ferguson has always said ‘it doesn’t matter’ (about the Carabao Cup),” he said. “I don’t know what happened over the past few years. It looks like a final match in another competition. It’s true.”
Unlike other leagues, England has two cup competitions. One is the FA Cup hosted by the English Football League (EFL), and the other is the Cup run by the English Football League (EFL). It is also called the League Cup or the EFL Cup, but since 2017, it has been called the Carabao Cup, named after its sponsor, Thai energy drink company Carabao.
Unlike the FA Cup, in which all amateur teams participate, the Carabao Cup, in which only professional league teams from the first to fourth division can participate, only costs 100,000 pounds (about 169 million won) in prize money. This is in stark contrast to the fact that if the team wins the FA Cup, it can receive 2 million pounds (about 3.4 billion won) in prize money.
In addition, the FA Cup will give the UEFA Europa League a berth when winning, while the Carabao Cup champion will get a berth in the Europa Conference League, so big clubs do not place much weight on the Carabao Cup compared to the Premier League and the FA Cup, so they use a large number of young prospects and candidates until the beginning of the tournament.
Therefore, Guardiola did not respond much even though he had won the Carabao Cup four times so far, but he was puzzled to see Liverpool become the Carabao Cup champion this season.
However, Guardiola’s remarks were enough to offend Liverpool fans who were happy to win the Carabao Cup this season. According to the media, some fans claimed on social media that “Guardiola is the vulgarest man in football” and “I am angry to see the world’s best coach so anxious.”