Vincent Kompany: Liverpool didn’t deserve to lose Premier League title race
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany believes Jurgen Klopp’s “exceptional” Liverpool team didn’t deserve to lose the title race.
City beat Brighton 4-1 on the final day of the season to retain the Premier League title for the first time in their history.
A record-breaking title race: Five key things to know…
- City beat Brighton 4-1 on the final day to retain the Premier League title for the first time.
- Liverpool finished on 97 points, the highest runners-up total in the history of Europe’s top-five leagues.
- The Reds were the only team in the 2018/19 Premier League season to remain unbeaten at home.
- City beat Liverpool 2-1 in January, their only league defeat this season.
- Pep Guardiola’s side scored more goals (95) than any other Premier League team in 2018/19.
That result rendered Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolves meaningless, although the Reds finished on 97 points themselves – the third-highest points total in Premier League history – pushing Guardiola’s men all the way.
And such was the challenge from the Merseyside outfit, Kompany has labelled this as his hardest Premier League season so far.
“Back to back [titles]. I think it was the hardest, most tough Premier League ever,” he told Sky Sports.
“Liverpool was exceptional, I don’t mean to rub it in, it is what it is, they didn’t deserve to lose.”
Kompany then added that this title win was more satisfying than their ‘Centurion’ season last term because they had to work so much harder for it.
“It makes me so much more happy that we played such a great team all season,” the Belgian continued. “We had our backs to the wall, we won at the Etihad and today we were able to stay in front.
“I’m so happy, for me, for the team and the fans.”
Guardiola names Premier League’s “best player” this season
After appearing mainly as a substitute last season, Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva has taken up a key role in Man City’s squad this season, now finding himself as one of the first names on Guardiola’s team sheet.
And although Raheem Sterling and Virgil van Dijk picked up the most prestigious individual awards this season, Guardiola believes it is the diminutive Silva who is the Premier League’s best player.
“He was the best [this season], not just in our team,” Guardiola said ahead of the Brighton game.
“Bernardo can play incredibly well everywhere, give me a team and he can play well there. He does everything with the ball.”
