Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Pep Guardiola
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola was not prepared to discuss ‘a game that happened six or seven months ago’. Photograph: Matt Bunn/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola was not prepared to discuss ‘a game that happened six or seven months ago’. Photograph: Matt Bunn/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Pep Guardiola refuses to play Neil Warnock’s injury blame game

This article is more than 5 years old

Manchester City manager brushes off Cardiff counterpart’s complaint
Sergio Agüero signs one-year contract extension to 2021

Pep Guardiola says he has no wish to play games with Neil Warnock after Cardiff’s manager claimed a tackle by Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne on Jazz Richards last season ruled the defender out for 17 games.

Guardiola takes his side to Cardiff on Saturday following the teams’ acrimonious FA Cup tie last season. The City manager was unhappy at a tackle by Joe Bennett that left Leroy Sané with ligament damage for greater protection for all players and this caused Guardiola to ask.

Told of Warnock’s claim regarding De Bruyne Guardiola said: “I’m not going to discuss a game that happened six or seven months ago, the decisions of the referee. I’m not going to play that game.”

Warnock said regarding protecting players: “I totally agree with him. Sané missed three games, but if you watched in the 50th minute there was a tackle from Kevin De Bruyne on Jazz Richards that put him out for 17 games. So I would say: ’Which is the worst?’ That sounds like a worse tackle than Bennett’s but we didn’t make a song and dance about that.”

Guardiola played down any notion Sané might have a mental block should he face Bennett again. “I didn’t speak with him, but he’s forgotten it,” he said. “It’s a new game.”

Despite City losing to Lyon in midweek in the Champions League Guardiola, who had 11 players involved in World Cup quarter-finals or beyond, refused to blame a hangover from the summer tournament: “No, the mind controls everything … They are young, train every day and we take care of them.”

Guardiola 'so happy' as Agüero extends Manchester City contract to 2021

Guardiola has revealed Benjamin Mendy has an injured fifth metatarsal, with City’s manager unsure how long the left-back will be out. The 24-year-old has missed the past two games. It is understood the problem is bruising in the left foot and minor.

Sergio Agüero has signed a one-year contract extension to stay at City until 2021. If the striker sees out the deal it would mean he will have been at the club for a decade, having joined from Atlético Madrid in summer 2011.

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.

Most viewed

Most viewed