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The City boss confessed feeling "shame" following an exchange with a camera operator in the wake of Manchester City's 2-1 defeat away to the Magpies this past weekend.

When the match concluded, a visibly upset Guardiola entered the St James’ Park pitch and engaged in intense talks with match official Sam Barrott and Magpies midfielder Bruno Guimarães, while also handling the broadcast crew's equipment.

"I said sorry," the manager remarked. "I'm humiliated, regretful, when I see it. I don’t like it. I apologised after one second to the cameraman. That's just me. With a thousand matches under my belt I'm far from perfect, errors happen."

"One thing is certain, I stand by my team and club, without a doubt. Why I want to defend my team is no doubt – because from my experience to win the Premier League we need near-perfect totals, 98 points, or we fall short."

City's Position and Guardiola's Assessment

The team sits in third and trail leaders Arsenal by seven points after what was their fourth league defeat of the season. "Four defeats in twelve matches we have to improve a lot," he conceded. "Mathematically, it’s possible to win everything."

When questioned about a potential quadruple was a realistic aim, Guardiola answered: "You are an experienced journalist, did you hear my talk discuss four trophies in December during our historic run? Never."

Exchange with Bruno

Regarding his confrontation with Guimarães, the coach explained: "I've known him for many years and every time after the game, home or away, we talk in the tunnel. Our paths always cross and we get along well. I enjoy it. I'm passionate, I love to talk and move my hands."

He wouldn't mind should a rival coach spoke to his players right after the final whistle. "No - as long as it's respectful as I do, it's fine," he noted, mentioning the referee. "He was part of it throughout the match, constantly. Goodness, he was involved."

Debatable Calls

City were unhappy that Barrott or the VAR did not award City a penalty on a Schär tackle against Foden, and doubted if Guimarães was offside when Harvey Barnes scored the decisive strike. Pictures published later show he was level.

Upcoming Milestone

He will manage of his 100th Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen this week. "That's impressive, showing we compete annually," he commented.

The club has ten points from four matches of the league phase, while Leverkusen have five.