Guardiola happy to stop Iheanacho from scoring against Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stated that he is happy to prevent Super Eagles striker Kelechi Iheanacho from scoring.

Kelechi Iheanacho again fired blanks for Leicester City against his former side Manchester City when both sides met in a quarter-final clash of the ongoing 2018 Carabao Cup on Tuesday, December 18.

Kelechi Iheanacho

City star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne gave Guardiola’s side the lead in the encounter but were pegged back by Marc Albrighton who converted a ball through to him by Super Eagles midfielder Wilfred Ndidi before the end of 90 minutes.

Manchester City were victorious 5-3 on penalties and advanced to the semifinal on course to retain their trophy.

Speaking after the encounter, Guardiola stated that he was delighted with 17-year-old central defender Eric García who was tasked with preventing Iheanacho from finding the back of the net.

The Nigerian striker was in action for 81 minutes before he was replaced and was only able to register one shot during his time on the field and Guardiola was full of praise for Garcia’s efforts.

He said, ''He has good vision, a good pass. It's incredible, I'm very pleased. He didn't make one mistake and with the ball, he played with huge personality.

''It's not easy with [Demarai] Gray, Kele [Iheanacho] and [James] Maddison.

''It's a big important event. I'm so delighted with his performance."

Iheanacho has not scored for club and country in almost three months and his coach Claude Puel has backed him to get convert when he gets better chances.

He will hope to end his goalscoring drought when Leicester City travel to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, December 22.