City played out a 0-0 stalemate with the Italian champions in their European opener on Wednesday (18.09.24) and the manager was impressed with his team despite them failing to win for the first time this season.

Guardiola told TNT Sports: "We played so good. I love my team. We are a fantastic team.

"We had a team that defended really, really well. They are the masters of defending and transitioning.

"We conceded one, one and a half chances. You cannot expect to create umpteen chances when a team defends with 11 players so, so deep.

"I'm really, really pleased with the performance we have done. [I liked] everything, absolutely everything [about the performance]."

Guardiola acknowledged that his side squandered opportunities in attacking areas but he was reluctant to commit too much in attack against a savvy Inter team.

The Spanish coach said: "When you are alone and you lose easy balls, it's a counter-attack. So it's impossible to stop it. You have to be more precise because sometimes there are balls that are so difficult.

"But we are alone and we lose the ball, that happens especially on the left side with Kevin [De Bruyne], you cannot control it.

"We had not a lot [of chances]. It's the beginning of the season. These players will be better. Phil [Foden], it's his first game for two months. Gundogan arrives. The players, with more time, they will be better.

"Rodri played really good. Always, Rodri plays good."