'F***! I need to get on Instagram' - Guardiola left stunned by Mendy's Hong Kong trip

Pep Guardiola was left speechless after it was revealed to the Manchester City boss that defender Benjamin Mendy may have travelled to Hong Kong.

France international Mendy is currently recovering from a knee ligament injury that has sidelined him since November.

He is not yet fit to return to action ahead of City's clash with Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League, and as such was given the green light by Guardiola to make a trip to Barcelona and Paris in a bid to regain his fitness.

On Friday, though, Mendy posted a short video on his Instagram Story with the location tag of Hong Kong International Airport, suggesting he had flown to Asia.

When asked at a press conference whether the apparent trip was planned, Guardiola - who believed Mendy to still be in Barcelona - responded: "Wow. I didn’t know it. F***, he’s a lucky guy!

"Before he went he said ‘I’m going one day to Paris’, and that's OK because that’s here, but Hong Kong is far away, so I don’t know.

"I have to install Instagram on my account to control my players because I don’t know, really I don’t know. Yesterday, he was in Barcelona."

Questioned further on whether he would be alright with Mendy making such a long trip, he said: "No, definitely not. Definitely not."

Mendy was quick to explain the video, posting on Twitter: "It was just joking with my Uber driver. I dont want no problems, Pep."

It is not the first time Mendy's social media usage has got him into hot water with Guardiola this season.

The former Barcelona boss warned the full-back in August that he needed to forget about the internet and focus on his football as he looked to put an injury-hit first season with the English champions behind him.

At the time Mendy, who joined City from Monaco in the summer of 2017 for a then world-record fee for a defender of £52 million ($66m), insisted he would cut down his use of social media, though he continues to be very active on a number of platforms.