How Sporting Thrashing Compares With Manchester City’s Worst Losses Under Pep Guardiola

We’ve compared Manchester City’s worst losses under Pep Guardiola following their humbling 4-1 defeat to Sporting on Tuesday.

As City travelled to Lisbon to face Sporting in the Champions League, there was an expectation that the English Champions would respond to recent defeats.

And when Phil Foden put them ahead after four minutes, that looked to be the case.

Almost nobody could have predicted what followed, though. A scintillating comeback from Sporting, managed for the final time at home by Manchester United-bound coach Ruben Amorim, saw the hosts battle back to thrash City 4-1.

A hat-trick from Swedish forward Viktor Gyokeres and a goal from Maximiliano Araújo handed City one of their worst losses of the Guardiola era.

Since Pep took charge of City in July 2016, defeats have been few and far between.

In 489 total matches under the Spaniard, City have lost just 69 times. That equates to just 14% of their games. Comparatively, Pep has enjoyed a win rate in all competitions of 74%.

In that time, City have won six Premier League titles, including the last four in a row. They’ve won two FA Cups, four EFL Cups, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.

But while losses are rare for Manchester City, losses of a nature similar to Tuesday’s demolition in Lisbon are almost unheard of.

Only once have they conceded more goals under Pep, and Tuesday’s defeat was only their fifth by a margin of three or more goals.

Below, we have listed Manchester City’s worst losses under Pep Guardiola to see how this week’s defeat compares.

Manchester City’s Worst Losses Under Pep Guardiola

• Barcelona 4-0 Manchester City – 19/10/16 (Champions League)
• Leicester City 4-2 Manchester City – 10/12/16 (Premier League)
• Everton 4-0 Manchester City – 15/01/17 (Premier League)
• Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City – 04/04/18 (Champions League)
• Manchester City 2-5 Leicester City – 27/09/20 (Premier League)
• Sporting 4-1 Manchester City – 05/11/24 (Champions League)

Perhaps the most surprising observation is that two of Manchester City’s worst losses under Pep have been against Leicester City.

The Foxes have enjoyed an up-and-down few years since they beat City 4-2 as reigning champions in December 2016.

But they handed City their worst home defeat under Guardiola in 2020, winning 5-2 at the Etihad.

Another surprise is the omission of Tottenham. Spurs have been known as a bogey team for City in recent years, but while ther have lost eight times to the North London outfit under Guardiola, the biggest winning margin in that time has been 2-0.