MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola aimed a small dig at Chelsea following an alleged tunnel row after Manchester City's 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge this week.
A source confirmed to ESPN FC that there was a heated exchange in the tunnel following Chelsea's victory that knocked City out of the Premier League title race on Wednesday night.
It has been reported that backroom staff of both clubs were involved in a heated exchange of views, which the source said was started by a member of Chelsea boss Antonio Conte's coaching staff.
Speaking at news conference ahead of City's game with Hull City on Saturday, Guardiola tried to play down the incident, although he did say that his teams are polite when they win.
"Yes, the tunnel at Chelsea is so tight. So tight. Come on, it was nothing," the City boss said. "We congratulate Chelsea for the victory -- we are so polite in our defeats. And especially we are so polite when we win, especially that."
Conte also refused to be drawn about what happened in the aftermath of the match, which keeps his side seven points clear at the top of the table.
"The respect is always important. I think this is the most important thing in football," he told a news conference. "I think there is a winner and there is a loser. And both must accept the final result and show respect.
"I didn't see anything because I was in the changing room, to stay with my players. I didn't see. It's not important what happened in the tunnel. The most important thing is what happened on the pitch. I think a lot of people enjoyed this game, Chelsea against City, this is the most important thing for us."
Guardiola said after the game that the defeat killed his side's hopes of winning the Premier League but City still have to secure a top-four finish and Champions League football for next season.
The City boss said it was frustrating not to be involved in the title race but added his side still have a lot to play for.
"Now the situation is clear -- eight games left in the league and the [FA Cup] semifinal. That is our target for the end of the season," he said. "It was in the past. We could talk about the performance against Arsenal in the first half and we should not be optimistic, football every game is completely different. My feeling is during the season we made really good things.
"I was expecting from the beginning of the season to fight for the Premier League until the end. OK, we are a little bit disappointed, but I am quite happy with the way we made good things in this season. Of course we are not stable in other things. We want to improve for this part of the season and especially for next season."
City are without a win in their last four Premier League games and come up against a Hull side that have improved massively since the appointment of Marco Silva in January.
Hull moved out of the bottom three in midweek with a 4-2 win over Middlesbrough and Guardiola praised the impact of their manager.
"I know him from the Champions League when he was manager in Greece and I was at Bayern Munich, he's making an outstanding job," Guardiola said. "Not only great results. I like the way they play. I liked the way they played when we were there, now they play with a lot of talent -- not just long balls, a lot of quality."