Pep Guardiola and Thomas Frank both refused to comment on a bust-up between Kyle Walker and Neal Maupay after the Brentford striker once again courted controversy.
Premier League champions Manchester City came from behind at the Community Stadium on Monday night to secure a 3-1 victory which sees them move up to second place in the table, two points behind leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.
But there was a flashpoint towards the end of the match when Maupay – who had opened the scoring for the hosts – said something to Walker.
The right-back complained to both the fourth official and then the referee, and appeared to mouth that Maupay had said something which he felt crossed a line.
Walker was calmed down by his manager, who was later seen locked in conversation with Maupay after the full-time whistle was blown and seemed to be remonstrating with him over what had been said.
But, after the game, both managers declined to discuss the incident.
As soon as Walker’s name was mentioned in his post-match press conference, Guardiola shook his head, interrupted the question and said, ‘Nothing. Next question.’
When probed further on whether it would be looked at by the officials, Guardiola continued to shake his head before saying: ‘I said next question. I don’t talk about it.’
Brentford boss Frank, meanwhile, repeatedly said he knew nothing about the row and had not spoken to the officials about the incident either.
‘I saw them [Walker and Maupay] talk to each other, yeah. No [I’ve not spoken to Neal], that’s not my first focus after a game we lost.
‘I know I need to talk to you guys. I’ll focus more on the football side if that’s OK.’
Maupay is a renowned wind-up merchant and was also in the headlines last week when he managed to get under the skin of Tottenham’s players, copying James Maddison’s darts celebration to wind up supporters – though he ultimately ended up on the losing team that night.
Reflecting on his side’s victory over Brentford, Guardiola said: ‘Really tough game. From experience, what they do, they do it amazingly, every corner, every free-kick.
‘We played a really good game, their goalkeeper was excellent in the first half and after the second half we were much better.’
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