Man City boss Pep Guardiola makes feelings crystal clear on Liverpool draw after two points dropped

However, Liverpool refused to accept the result and earned a draw following a powerful strike from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

There was little to choose between the two teams at the Etihad Stadium, leaving the Premier League title race intriguingly poised as a result.

Yet while City dropped points again, Guardiola insisted he was 'so proud' of his side for the way they performed.

"That was an excellent performance," said the Spaniard, whose side remain top of the Premier League table for the time being.

"I am really proud that after eight years we are still playing that way.

"We were really good in all departments and needed to be against an incredible team.

"Maybe we missed the last pass a little bit but they defended really well.

"To concede just two shots on target against Liverpool is a big compliment for the way we work.

On Haaland's goal, he added: "It was really good and the action from Nathan [Ake] was perfect. We know the quality of Erling."

City defender Nathan Ake also opened up - and admitted it had been a 'tough match' for the defending champions as they failed to come out on top.

"I think overall we played really well," said the Netherlands international.

"It was a tough match – we knew it was going to be tough.

"We tried to keep the ball and be more calm than we were against Chelsea.

"Especially in this kind of game it’s [about] small margins. [For the first goal] we thought they were going to counter-attack and then we got the goal.

"In the second half it was the same - we had a chance with Erling and then they scored.

"Always in the counter-attack it’s difficult [against Liverpool].

"Especially as defenders, we know Salah and Nunez are going to run at you.

"They have players like Trent who can put passes in the right areas, so it’s always difficult.

"We wanted to win. We had a lot of chances. We’re disappointed with only having one shot on target in the second half. In the end we’re a little disappointed."

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, praised the way the Reds performed as they managed to leave City with a point.

"It’s a really good moment," he said. "It’s a tough place to come – it’s no coincidence that they win that many home games.

"You’d need more time to prepare for the game properly, especially in these kind of circumstances.

"We’re still in a process. If we’d played really well today, we could have won – we didn’t. We played OK.

"We caused them problems as well, but our good moments didn’t feel that good to us [in the first half].

"We had to stretch ourselves again [in the second half]. We adapted our positioning slightly. "Unfortunately we lost Diogo [Jota], with Ali we’ll have to see.

"I told the boys at half-time, imagine what it would be like if we were playing well.

"We had to settle a little bit. Putting Trent in a different position defensively, plus Dom [Szoboszlai] and Mo [Salah] closing that gap in the second half gave us much more stability. From there we could play football ourselves.

"We had good moments. I wish we could have had more."