Pep Guardiola silent on referee criticism and says Manchester City must learn from Hoffenheim ‘fight’
City scored with three minutes left tonight to rescue their campaign, having lost their first game against Lyon, and Guardiola was delighted with the character the players showed
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Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola had to conceal his frustration with the refereeing in his post-match press conference at Hoffenheim this evening, after Manchester City were turned down a strong penalty appeal late in their 2-1 Champions League win.
City were denied a penalty when Leroy Sane was tripped by Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, just before David Silva's late winner in Sinsheim. Guardiola was obviously incensed, and shared his views with the referees and their assistants after the game.
But Guardiola missed the first game of the group stage with a touchline ban he picked up at the end of last season, when he shouted at the officials after City's Champions League quarter-final exit to Liverpool. And he insisted this evening that he did not want to make clear how he felt about the referees, because he did not want a repeat of that ban.
Guardiola referred back to both of City's Champions League exits under him: Liverpool in 2018, when they had a goal disallowed and a penalty claim turned down, and Monaco almost 18 months ago, hinting at consistent unfair treatment from UEFA referees.
"I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk about officials," Guardiola insisted. "I want to be with my players in the bench for the next games. I know what happened against Monaco at home [February 2017], I know what happened in quarter-finals against Liverpool [April 2018]. I want to be with my players in the bench. I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk, about these officials."
Guardiola also reiterated that Manchester City need to suffer and fight, especially because he wants the players to learn that group stage progress is not a “red carpet”.
“We had a little bit of pressure but our result in this competition, when we lost our home game, became so tough and hard,” he said. “Our qualification – if that happens – happens in last game against Hoffenheim at home. And today, after one minute we concede one goal. After that we fought as always like a team. We fought against absolutely everything and we did it. We need, as a club, as football players, we must live this kind of situations to get better.”
Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference that it would do City good to “suffer” and he reiterated the same message after seeing his side worked extremely hard to win 2-1. “Maybe for the future, not this season, maybe it’s really going well for us to live this situation. This competition is not always a red carpet. This game gave me a lot of good signals, we fought against absolutely everything. We have to live it as a club, for the players it will be good, for myself. We have to learn what we learned today.”
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