Pep Guardiola Blames 'Unacceptable' Ball After Manchester City Edge Past Wolves

Pep Guardiola slammed the quality of the match ball after his Manchester City side needed penalties to get past Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Tuesday.  

Despite starting with a strong attack that included Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, City failed to score in 120 minutes at the Etihad Stadium and were indebted to goalkeeper Claudio Bravo after he saved two Wolves penalties as the hosts won the shootout 4-1.  

In the aftermath, Guardiola took aim at the Mitre ball—used in all EFL competitions—claiming it was "impossible" for his side to score with, per Jamie Jackson in the Guardian:

"It is not acceptable, the ball was unacceptable for a high-level competition. It is too light, it moves all over the place. It is not a good ball. It is impossible to score with a ball like that, and I can say that because we won. I'm not making excuses. All of my players said: 'What is that?' I'm sorry, Carabao Cup, [it] is not a serious ball for a serious competition. It's [for] marketing, money. OK, but it's not acceptable—[it has] no weight, nothing."

In response, the EFL posted a statement on their website in which they insisted the Mitre ball fulfils FIFA regulations. 

The Press Association's Liam Blackburn provided the statement in full as the EFL called on Guardiola and City to clarify their concerns:

City fielded a much changed side from their 3-0 win over Burnley on Saturday, but Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo also rested key players, per bet365:

A Sky Blues team that included Sterling, Aguero, Jesus, Bernardo Silva, Yaya Toure and Ilkay Gundogan—and that saw Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Kyle Walker and John Stones used from the bench—would have been expected to blow Wolves away.

But the West Midlands outfit held firm and achieved what no other team has since April, keeping a clean sheet against City, per Squawka:

Only in the penalty shootout did City's superior quality show as De Bruyne, Toure, Sane and Aguero all netted from the spot.

Meanwhile, Bravo kept out Alfred N'Diaye and Conor Coady—having also made key saves in normal time—to seal City's spot in the quarter-finals.

Chilean Bravo has endured a tough time at City since joining the club in August 2016 from Barcelona, and he has been supplanted as the No. 1 by summer signing Ederson in 2017-18.

However, he enjoyed one of his better evenings on Tuesday and was praised by Guardiola in the aftermath, per Jackson: "Claudio gave us the chance to go through. I'm so happy for him, the way he's trained. A good performance and good penalties. I'm happy to win in this way."