Chelsea may have dethroned Manchester City as Premier League champions, but that did not stop Manuel Pellegrini from having a dig at the manner in which Jose Mourinho's side did it.
These have been a difficult few months at the Etihad Stadium, having rapidly gone from title challengers to facing the prospect of missing out on Champions League football.
That embarrassment has almost certainly been averted after they racked up a third straight win, with Sergio Aguero's strike enough secure a 1-0 victory at Tottenham on Sunday.
It was an impressive end to a run of four straight league defeats on the road and a timely response to the celebrations across London, where hours earlier Chelsea rubber-stamped the title with victory against Crystal Palace.
Pellegrini noticeably did not congratulate Mourinho's side after overcoming Spurs, instead focusing on the importance of style -- a point of contention considering Mourinho has fought off accusations that his side are "boring."
"I am very happy because I think that we played well against a difficult team," the City boss said. "[Tottenham are] a team that plays very attractive football, that beat Chelsea. [They are] champions this year with the best defence, but Chelsea conceded five goals here.
"I congratulate Mauricio Pochettino and his players because they play attractive football. We also do it. It was an amusing game and I think the fans really enjoyed it."
Pellegrini enjoyed the "beautiful, close, difficult game" at White Hart Lane and repeatedly spoke about attractive football in the postgame news conference.
"I am not thinking about the gap," he said. "I think Chelsea did this year exactly what we did last year -- they won the Premier League and they won the Capital One Cup.
"We did exactly the same last year, scoring more goals in another style. I think every year in the Premier League you have five important teams and all of them can win the title."
Asked if it was important that teams competing for the championships play attractive football, Pellegrini added: "I think it is important for the Premier League and it is important for the fans to play attractive football. That's why I just said that we won playing another style.
"We did exactly the same that Chelsea did this year, but we scored last year 158 goals and in this whole season 101 in the Premier League, 27 in the Capital One Cup.
"This team continues as the [highest] scoring team. That side is important, to continue winning in that sense."