Football fans react as Pep Guardiola brutally celebrates in front of Liverpool subs in awkward exchange

Pep Guardiola didn’t hold back in his celebrations as Manchester City took on Liverpool – cheering in the face of their disappointed substitutes.

The four-time Premier League winning manager was delighted by the attacking prowess at the Etihad in the 4-1 victory – and happened to be cheering Kevin De Bruyne’s goal as Kostas Tsimikas and Arthur walked by.

Instead of just letting them pass, Guardiola followed Tsimikas while cheering in a boyish manner, being rejected in a low high-five before letting him pass.

With Arthur then walking across, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss shook his hand before giving him a friendly but firm shove on the back of the head.

He then turned around to the fans to let out a huge cheer – with fans and pundits left balled by Guardiola’s actions while having sympathy for the players.

Ferdinand said on BT Sport: “That celebration there… I don’t know how Tsimikas hasn’t pushed the opposing manager Pep Guardiola out the way.”

One fan said in response: “He’s embarrassing. Good on Tsimi to keep cool.” A second posted: “Somebody tell him he hasn’t won the champions league yet. Embarrassing.”

A third added: “Guardiola is both a genius manger and a very weird man.” A fourth disagreed: “That’s class love it, pep is brilliant.”

And a fifth said: “He’s walked into Pep’s area, I don’t see the problem.”

With Mohamed Salah opening the scoring, Rodri Julian Alvarez equalised before De Bruyne gave them the lead less than a minute into the second-half.

With Ilkay Gundogan making it three, Jack Grealish got in on the act after a fine performance, in which he had the better of Trent Alexander-Arnold.