Second-string Man City held by Celtic

The forward played the full 90 minutes as City drew 1-1 with Celtic in their final Champions League group game on Tuesday and afterwards faced constant questioning about his current mood, having been left out of the squad for Saturday’s game against Chelsea.

Celtic took an early lead at the Etihad with a fine goal from Patrick Roberts, the 19-year-old who is on loan at the Scottish champions from City, before Kelechi Iheanacho levelled in a frenetic opening to the game.

However, while Guardiola was impressed by Roberts, who is on an 18-month loan at Celtic, he feels it would be foolhardy to make a decision on his future based on one performance. We’ll be well equipped for next season.

We are going to think about (him) at the end of the season’. “It is for one season”. He worked defensively. So he has potential. Their behaviour is always ideal so I am so happy to give them the opportunity to play in the Champions League.

Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers, meanwhile, is relishing to play against the Premier League side and he has also mentioned that being grouped alongside teams like Man City and Barcelona, it was always a hard challenge to qualify.

The result mattered little since City was already sure of finishing in second place in Group C while Celtic had no chance of avoiding a last-place finish.

It will only be as runners-up though as while their draw in Germany last time secured their passage to the next round, the two dropped points means that they now can’t catch Barcelona at the top. “We had a very tough group and it was always going to be hard to get out of it”, he said.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said he was disappointed not to get all three points, and praised his team’s performance over the course of the six group games.

The Spaniard also added, “But from my experience in the Champions League, it is how you are playing in February”. We can not forget that.

“It is a good test for us”.

Fortunately for Pep Guardiola, things are going a little better in Europe as his side are safely through to the last 16.

“We are there, so we compete with the best team in the world, against Monchengladbach, an unbelievable team, and Celtic are a team who every weekend win games”.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the campaign overall”, said the former Liverpool manager.

“We competed against two of the superpowers in European football”.

Manchester City’s Willy Caballero during training at the Manchester City training ground November 22, 2016.