According to reports, Pep Guardiola congratulated Liverpool for securing the Premier League title during a press conference following Manchester City’s 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Liverpool ended City’s four-year dominance in the Premier League with a resounding 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield, sealing the title. After conceding an early goal to Dominic Solanke, Liverpool quickly turned the game around with goals from Luis Díaz and Alexis Mac Allister. Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, and an own goal from Destiny Udogie ensured a comfortable win for the Reds.

Guardiola said at the start of the press conference: “On behalf of myself and the entire club, I congratulate Liverpool for winning the Premier League. They fully deserved it—they are an incredible team. I hope we can be better next year. Congratulations to Liverpool.”

He reiterated: “Before we begin, I once again congratulate Liverpool for their Premier League victory. They have held onto this title for a year, just as we did for the past four years, and hopefully, we can compete until the end next season because it wasn’t possible this time.”

Manchester City’s title defense had effectively ended months ago, but Sunday marked the first day in 1,448 days that Guardiola and his players were no longer champions. Liverpool concluded their brilliant season in style with this emphatic win. Although City fell short in the Premier League, their victory over Forest secured a third consecutive FA Cup final appearance. Guardiola commented on this achievement: “This reflects the quality of this generation of players and the club itself. We have players who are always ready. I’ve said many times that this season wasn’t great because we define success by the Premier League, and we’ve always been consistent, but it didn’t happen this time. We tried to minimize setbacks, especially with our progress in the UEFA Champions League.”