Pep Guardiola will invite Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger to dinner after breaking another Premier League record.
Manchester City’s 1-0 win at Brentford was Guardiolas 250. As manager of the Premier League.
It has taken Guardiola only 349 games to reach the milestone, while the next best – Ferguson in Manchester United and Wenger’s Arsenal – both took more than 400.
“It’s an honor to be with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, I want to invite them to a good dinner,” smiled Spanjolen.
“It’s a pleasure to be a part of that in the Premier League story. Really happy. Now let’s go to 250 more!”
Erling Haaland crossed the Gtech Stadium from his to-do list as one of only two Premier League gaming places he had not scored before.
Only eight minutes had passed when the Norwegian striker drove on to a ball over the top from Jesko Gardiol.
Haaland bulldozed himself between Bees Defenders Sepp van den Berg and Nathan Collins before lingering his shot past Caoimhin Kelleher.
It was Haaland’s 18th goal in 11 games for club and country this season and leaving Anfield as the only reason he has not yet scored II Premier League.
But City was unable to add their numbers and was almost tied back when Igor Thiago drove through on goal, only for goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to get to their rescue.
“Away when you’re 1-0 up, you always suffer,” Guardiola added. “In the first half we were the best and could have scored more goals to make it a little easier.
“We knew at half time that they would push more. Throwing, corners, free-kick, always you suffer. But the game was well played.”
Unfortunately, the city’s afternoon in western London became sunshine when midfielder Rodri suffered more damage.
In the 20th minute, the discontized Spaniard still retired from almost a year out due to an ACL injury, sat down in the middle of the circle and held his hamstring and eventually limped to be replaced by Nico Gonzalez.
“It looks like a hamstring, but we don’t know the damage yet,” Guardiola said.
For Brentford, it was a first home win of the season when their chaotic fire with long throws and sets came up short.
“We did it very uncomfortable in the second half,” said Chief Keith Andrews.
“It was a game with very few chances, and when you limit them to very few chances, you’re well. I’m not sure many other strikers in the world will score this goal.”