Pep Guardiola's reaction to Liverpool title win sums him up after FA Cup triumph

Pep Guardiola steered Manchester City to a third FA Cup final in a row – then warned new champions to expect a proper title race next season. Goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol saw City overcome to book their place in the final at Wembley on May 17 against .

But Guardiola was quick to praise and his players for ending City's four-year domination of the Premier League title – then vowed to take it back next season.

“Before I start, on behalf of myself and all the club, we want to congratulate Liverpool or their Premier League victory,” said Guardiola. “It's well deserved, no doubts about that.

“They are a fantastic team. For one year, they're going to retain the title and hopefully next season we can be better to compete until the end, which this season was not possible. So congratulations to Liverpool.”

Despite reaching another final, Guardiola said winning the and qualifying for the via the Premier League would not make up for City's poor season. City, who failed to mount a title challenge, are currently 21 points behind champions Liverpool and failed to make the last 16 of the Champions League.

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Asked if winning the FA Cup and reaching the Champions League for next season would help soothe those failures, Guardiola said: “Nooo! This season has not been good. We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool. it's not good. Look at the Champions League. We won one game? Two games?

“We were always a machine and we have not been good this season, but the damage will be minor. It's not going to confuse the fact that the season has not been good. The club has to make the right decisions so next season we will be better.”

Forest skipper Morgan Gibbs-White, who hit the bar and post in the second-half, issued an apology to the club's fans for failing to take his chances.

"It's devastating,” said Gibbs-White. “I feel sorry for the fans. I hold my hands up and apologise. I should have scored at least one of them. As a team we didn't start well and then in the second-half we came out fighting and gave it absolutely everything.

"The support never stopped until the very last second and we thank the fans for that, because they've been so consistent with us throughout the season. We gave it our everything but we keep going. We've still got the Premier League to focus on."

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