Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca and captain Ruben Dias responded to claims that they celebrated too much against Liverpool
Manchester City's Portuguese defender #03 Ruben Dias attends a press conference at the Etihad Campus training ground in Manchester, north-west England, on October 13, 2026, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League, league phase football match against PSG. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)
Ruben Dias
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Enzo Maresca asked what Manchester City were expected to do after the squad were criticised for celebrating a 3-0 win at Anfield. In the first game since the club was found guilty of serious and multiple breaches of Premier League financial rules, the Blues kept their focus on the pitch and picked up a big win at Liverpool.
Maresca and his players celebrated with their fans on the pitch, which drew the ire of a number of prominent commentators who thought their response should have been more appropriate in the circumstances. The City boss could not understand why he and the players were not expected to celebrate for doing their job.
"We won 0-3 at Anfield," he said. "What do you want us to do? Even if it was 0-1, it would be exactly the same. We are here today to win tomorrow's game and we work every day to win games.
"It's the only thing that we can think, we can be focused. The rest is just things from outside that we need to deal with but we were so happy inside the pitch and you cannot imagine inside the changing room."
Captain Ruben Dias, speaking publicly for the first time since the guilty verdicts, said that it had been impossible for the players to ignore the atmosphere that they walked into. However, having done enough to win the game they would not duck out of celebrating.
"I very much stand by the manager’s words, so be it early in the season, later in the season, I and I think we will enjoy it just as much and celebrate however it feels in the moment. It will be a show of how much it means to us," he said
"I feel it all mixes together but mainly we all know it is not easy for us in recent years to get three points at Anfield and that is definitely the main reason, we are here for the points to win competitions."