Jan Paul van Hecke told Pep Guardiola he has a great Manchester City team – after Albion beat them 2-1.

City boss Guardiola targeted the impressive Seagulls defender, who had just been involved in a tangle with Erling Haaland, as he strode on to the pitch at full-time.

He also interrupted while Van Hecke was talking to reporters to again give best wishes and shake hands.

Van Hecke said: “We were just speaking about the foul at the end in the box. He just congratulated me. I said they had a great team.

“He just asked me what happened in the box and I explained.

“He is a great manager. You see the way his team played at the end of last season, we lost 4-0 and I felt like the whole game I was in the rondo!

“I only have a lot of respect for him.”

Van Hecke was delighted to hear Guardiola had just praised him in his post-match press conference and added: “Wow, that is good.

“It is a proud moment for me. I think he is the best coach in the world.”

Van Hecke said Albion came through a tough opening period but were on top in the second half.

He added: "I think they showed some great qualities. How they play was really tough. 

"We did well. They scored one goal. Bart has some good saves. We defended well.

"After that we started to have more confidence in the game and played better. 

"You saw a different team after the break - we showed our qualities."

Van Hecke and sidekick Igor earned praise for the way they dealt with Haaland in the second half but the Dutchman said it was a team effort.

He said: "He is a top striker but he needs also some balls from midfielders and centre-backs.

"Our team did really well to press and kept them away from our goal and sometimes you need to defend in the box and I think we did well. 

"We were a bit more aggressive." 

Van Hecke will now report for international duty with Holland