Guardiola and Mourinho lift the lid on Milkgate | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says he encouraged his Manchester City players to celebrate their derby victory over Manchester United on Sunday but hopes the ugly events which occurred in the Old Trafford tunnel aren’t repeated again.

A complaint from United boss José Mourinho about the noise emanating from City’s dressing room reportedly sparked a 20-man brawl which involved the Portuguese being squirted with milk and Mikel Arteta – Guardiola’s assistant – requirement medical treatment after being hit in the face by a flying bottle.

But while Guardiola insists his players’ celebrations were not excessive, he would have preferred it if they’d been contained within the confines of the dressing room.

“We try to celebrate, because when we lose we try to accept the defeat, but when we win we celebrate,” the Catalan told a news conference ahead of City’s trip to Swansea on Wednesday.

“We celebrate in the right moments, for example we celebrated in Napoli, you have to do that, but inside [the dressing room].

“I am the guy who encouraged them to do that, but inside, and after what happened, it happened, hopefully it will not happen again.”

“It was the same after the Southampton game, that was 96 mins or something like that, but we were happy. It was a derby, it was the closest rival.

“When United win they celebrate, when Arsenal win against United they celebrate, when Arsenal win the FA Cup last season they celebrate, but where? Inside the dressing room.

“[Our behaviour] was correct, believe me. We jumped, because we were happy. People have to understand that we were happy.

“I think all the teams around the world when they win a derby they are so happy. When we won with Bayern we were happy, with Barcelona we celebrated.”

However, when asked about the incident at his own press conference ahead of United’s game against Bournemouth, Mourinho refused to comment.

“He [Guardiola] says, he says, I’m not here to comment on his words,” said the Red Devils boss.

“The only thing I can say is that for me it was just a question of diversity, diversity in behaviours, diversity in education, just that and nothing more than that.

“This press conference is pre-Bournemouth, it is not post-Manchester City, that was already done and this press conference is pre-Bournemouth.”