Pep Guardiola conceded that Wolves ‘deserved’ their 2-1 win as Manchester City’s perfect start to the new season ended at Molineux.
City fell behind to an early Ruben Dias own goal and were below their best for much of the afternoon, as Wolves pulled off an upset to defeat the Premier League champions.
Julian Alvarez looked to have rescued a result for a below-part Citizens side with a brilliant free-kick to equalise, but Hwang Hee-chan fired home a winner for Wolves who earned just their second victory of the season.
“Congratulations Wolves, they deserved it. We had chances and struggled to deal with transitions and they played very well,” Guardiola told the BBC.
“We were there and settled well and the question is when the opponent is faster and quicker, we have to accept it.”
Defeat was a second in succession for City, who exited the Carabao Cup at Newcastle in midweek. Guardiola – who watched from the stands as he served a touchline ban – was unconcerned by the back-to-back losses, but admitted City must improve ahead of Wednesday’s trip to face RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
“Different competitions. At Newcastle [we] were miles better than today and now we go onto the next one.”
