PORTLAND, August 7- Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola claims he didn’t shake the hand of MLS All-Star squad manager Caleb Porter after his side’s 2-1 loss in Portland because he didn’t see his counterpart.
Guardiola became incensed with referees and the MLS All-Stars’ bench during the second half, seemingly due to rough play by the US league’s substitutes who came on at half-time.
But the Bayern boss was dismissive of the situation in his post-game interviews, even though he seemed to wag a finger at Porter at full-time.
“I didn’t see him,” Guardiola told USA Today after the match. “We tried to respect the rules of the game. I appreciate the effort of my players.”
MLS All-Stars Osvaldo Alonso and Will Johnson both received yellow cards in the second half for hard tackles that clearly upset the Bayern Munich players and their coach on the bench. But Guardiola did not comment at length.
“It’s not my job to be concerned with their tackles,” he said. “That is another person’s job.”
Landon Donovan scored the MLS All-Stars’ game winner and walked away with the game’s MVP honors as well.
The incident was a blemish on an otherwise engaging match that saw the German champions take an early 1-0 lead via a goal from Robert Lewandowski.
But second-half substitutes Bradley Wright-Phillips and Landon Donovan put the MLS All-Stars, respectively scoring the hosts’ equaliser and winner.
“Some of the stuff at the end is unfortunate it gets blown out of proportion like that,” Donovan told ESPN FC TV. “But the guys are playing hard and they are proud of this league and they want to win the game.”
For his part, Porter, who manages the hometown Portland Timbers, said the way the game ended wouldn’t take anything away from how proud he was of the team and the result.
“That was such a small part of tonight,” Porter said. “There’s really no reason for me to talk about it. Coaches get heated. Like I said, there was so much good to talk about that there’s no reason to make that a story.”
-By ESPN FC
