Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said the match ball was "unacceptable" after yesterday's League Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers. City were held to a 0-0 draw by the Championship leaders and only made it through to the fifth round 4-1 on penalties after Claudio Bravo saved two spot kicks.
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The tie was played with the Mitre Delta EFL, which is used in the Championship, League One and League Two, while the Premier League uses the Nike Ordem IV football. Guardiola refused to blame the ball for the performance but he was still very unhappy with it.
Guardiola Calls Mitre Delta League Cup Ball 'Unacceptable'
"It is not acceptable, the ball was unacceptable for a high-level competition," he told a news conference.
"It is too light, it moves all over the place, it is not a good ball. It is impossible to score with a ball like that and I can say that because we won, I'm not making excuses. All of my players said 'what is that?' I'm sorry Carabao Cup is is not a serious ball for a serious competition. It's marketing, money, ok but it's not acceptable, no weight, nothing."
"One day or two days, but the ball is bad for one year or two years, it's not acceptable. all the players complain."
Yaya Touré, who took one of City’s penalties, was also scathing about the ball. “I don’t like it to be honest,” he said. “They can do better than that. It’s too light. Even in my country they can’t use those kind of balls. I think they have to be better than that because the ball was too soft. It’s rubbish but that’s fine.
“A lot of players were complaining. The FA can try to do something because we just want to enjoy it. It’s difficult to play with these kind of balls but we try to find a way. It’s everything. Shooting – the ball is very light, when you touch it, it’s floating, it’s rubbish. And in this [rainy] weather it’s difficult.”
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