Maresca shrugs off 'celebration gate' as City prepare for PSG

Enzo Maresca has never been one to waste words on outside noise. So when the question of Manchester City's on-pitch celebrations at Anfield came up ahead of the Champions League tie with PSG, the response was predictable in its bluntness.

"Criticised for what? We won 0-3 at Anfield! What do you want us to do? And even if it was 0-1, it would be exactly the same."

That was the manager's message, relayed through Sky Sports, and it cut through the manufactured outrage like a knife through butter. City had just dismantled Andoni Iraola's side 3-0 on their own patch. If that doesn't warrant a bit of joy, nothing does.

Maresca wasn't finished there. He went on to explain exactly where his focus lies.

"I'm here today, and the players are here today, to win tomorrow's game. And we work every day to win games. It's the only thing, again, that we can think and be focussed."

It's a sentiment that will resonate with anyone who has watched this City side go about their business. The rest, as Maresca put it, is just noise from outside.

"The rest? It's just things from outside that we need to deal with, but we were so, so, so happy inside the pitch, and you cannot imagine inside the changing room!"

Those celebrations, then, were not for public consumption. They were for the players, the staff, and anyone who understands what a result like that means in the context of a season.

The timing of the criticism is interesting, of course. Until the 115-case reaches its conclusion, every City success will be accompanied by a chorus of disapproval from certain quarters. A guilty verdict was found by the Premier League's commission, and that verdict has been appealed. The saga drags on.

But as Australian comedian Steve Hughes once observed about the modern obsession with taking offence: "Now you have adults going 'I was offended, I was offended and I have rights!' Well so what, be offended, nothing happens. You're an adult, grow up, and deal with it. I was offended! Well, I don't care! Nothing happens when you're offended."

Maresca, it seems, would agree. His team won 3-0 at Anfield. They celebrated. And no amount of finger-wagging will change that.

The manager's focus now shifts to PSG in the Champions League. A tweet from Hayters TV quoted him saying: "We won 3-0 at Anfield, what do you want us to do?" It's a line that will be remembered long after the faux-outrage fades.