Pep Guardiola goes viral for responding to Liverpool fans with six-finger gesture

In the 88th minute, when the crowd at Anfield were chanting "You will be sacked tomorrow morning" at Guardiola, he responded by raising six fingers, indicating the number of Premier League titles he has won with Man City and seemingly said "one."

Since Guardiola's arrival in 2016, City have won six league titles, including four consecutive championships. In contrast, Liverpool have claimed only one Premier League title in the era since its rebranding in 1992.

This wasn't the first time Guardiola had been subjected to such chants. Liverpool fans have regularly targeted the 53-year-old coach with similar taunts during City's recent winless streak, which has now stretched to seven matches.

After the match, Guardiola repeated the gesture as he thanked Man City's away supporters, raising six fingers amidst applause. His defiant response quickly sparked reactions on social media, with hundreds of thousands of posts about the incident on X.

"Guardiola has turned into Jose Mourinho," commented sports writer Josiah Okoe Quaye, drawing a comparison between Guardiola and Mourinho, who is known for similar displays of holding up fingers to indicate the number of titles he has won.

Mourinho's trademark finger gestures have become a defining feature of his career, symbolizing his title count, particularly his three Premier League championships. Guardiola's response, however, led to humorous speculation that the six fingers could also reference Liverpool's six Champions League titles, with others mocking him for signaling City's recent six losses out of seven games.

Some fans also joked that Guardiola’s gesture symbolized current Premier League standings, with one finger on his right hand representing Liverpool's top position, and five fingers on his left hand signaling City's current league position. This match marked the first time since September 2021 that Man City has finished a round outside the Premier League’s top four.

After the game, Guardiola expressed disappointment at the chants, particularly from the Liverpool fans, who are known for their passion.

"They want to sack me, oh my God," Guardiola said after the game. "Maybe they’re right, maybe I must be sacked for the results I have. But I didn’t expect this at Anfield. They should have done it in the past. Now it’s taking advantage. It’s part of the game, I understand. We had incredible battles together. I have respect, and that’s it."

Guardiola has often been at the center of attention during City's recent difficult run of results. After their FA Cup final loss to Manchester United in 2024, he admitted the team was "still drunk" from their Premier League title win. Similarly, after their heavy 0-4 loss to Tottenham, Guardiola revealed that he "wanted to hurt himself" in frustration, a sentence that he later clarified.

This is the first time in Guardiola's stellar managerial career that he has overseen a seven-match winless streak. The City boss will have the chance to end that run when his team host Nottingham Forest at the Etihad on Dec. 4 in the Premier League.