Manchester City's Pep Guardiola offers half-hearted apology to Manchester United after tunnel melee

Guardiola defended his team's actions and insisted they did nothing wrong

Pep Guardiola defended his team's exuberant celebrations (Getty)

​Pep Guardiola apologised if Manchester City’s derby celebrations angered Jose Mourinho – but was adamant they did nothing wrong.

Mourinho was furious with City’s players for their celebrations at Old Trafford following their 2-1 win on Sunday and the fall out sparked ugly scenes afterwards. The United manager had milk and water thrown at him, while the City coach Mikel Arteta suffered a cut to his head from a plastic bottle.

United and City are undertaking internal investigations and have until 18:00 GMT on Wednesday to present their accounts to the Football Association. The FA will then decided whether there is enough evidence to pursue charges against specific individuals and/or the clubs themselves.

Guardiola, who would not go into detail about specific incidents that happened post match, claimed his players were not wild or extravagant following the win before he half-heartedly said sorry to United.

“We won a derby. If we offended United – not just one player, not just Jose – Manchester United, then I apologise,” Guardiola said. “Sometimes United made a lot of celebrations in the past over City. All the managers celebrate sometimes and exceed. But it didn’t happen. We have to enjoy those moments.

“What happened in the locker room happened. Hopefully it is never going to happen again. If we were not correct than I apologise to all of Manchester United. Our intentions was not that. It was to celebrate inside the locker room. If the people cannot understand that then I’m sorry.

“To celebrate with your fans is part of it. In Germany everyone goes over if you win or lose. I said when I arrived that winning or losing, you have to go over when you are away to say thank you. The last action was in the corner and we celebrated there in a normal way – nothing exceptional.”

City face Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday as they seek to consolidate their position at the top of the Premier League table, and ahead of that match Guardiola also claimed the reaction of his players at Old Trafford reflected the fantastic team spirit that exists among City’s squad.

“It’s a very healthy team spirit, it’s true, but the most important thing is the spirit wasn’t lost last season, that is good for confidence,” Guardiola added. “Of course when you lose a lot of games it helps you to build that spirit. But last season we didn’t not have that. We were more sad, more upset because the results were not like we expect, but was okay.

“It is impossible to achieve 14 games in a row just by playing football. Forget it. It helps a lot, but of course there a lot of things. The people outside the club can discuss many things but in games our spirit shows we were there to try and do our things in the game – like in Old Trafford, which is so demanding.

“Nobody can assure you but my feeling is right now – I don’t know in the future – but right now that we are going to try to play with that spirit.”

Guardiola also revealed he will be on the lookout for a new defender when the transfer window opens in January.

“We are thinking about it,” he said. “I’m honest we are thinking about it, in that department we have few few few players, and of course to handle all to competitions we are in trouble, really trouble. But I can’t assure you anything. So we are thinking about it. We’re going to see what will happen in January.”