Pep Guardiola has admitted he’s angry with Rodri after the midfielder was sent off during Manchester City’s game against Nottingham Forest.
The Spaniard, who scored the winning goal in the Champions League final and sealed the treble for the club last season, was dismissed from the game on Saturday after raising his hands and grabbing Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White around the neck — an instant red card in any instance.
Rodri will now miss Man City‘s next three games against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, next Saturday’s trip to Wolves and an even bigger fixture on the calendar: Arsenal away on 8 October.
As a result, Pep was left deeply disappointed and frustrated with Rodri, confessing that he was angry with the rash reaction and adding that the 27-year-old “has to learn”.
🗣 "It's not my first season here, It's eight years here. We know each other really, really well…"
Pep Guardiola admits he is angry with Rodri, and the player has already apologised to his Manchester City teammates 😠⚽ pic.twitter.com/AY9pbtTO1x
As you can see, Guardiola took issue not only with Rodri’s violent conduct but referee Antony Taylor’s performance on the day, arguing that a tackle on Haaland in the early actions of the game should have resulted in a yellow card but was waved off, only for City centre-back Manuel Akanji to be booked moments later for a similar challenge.
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He went on to reveal that he warned everyone to “be careful” when heading in for half-time, however, soon after play resumed, a few aggressive shoves from Gibbs-White were more than enough to push Rodri over the edge and result in him seeing red — quite literally.
The Catalan did say that he thought his side played the game perfectly for the opening half an hour but that Taylor‘s refereeing led to “chaos” on the pitch and “changed the way the game was played”.
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Nevertheless, although he will have to speak with the rest of the club first, he said wouldn’t personally bother appealing the decision despite insisting that a “three-game [match ban] is too many”.
"He has to learn. He has to learn"
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola does not expect the club to appeal Rodri's red card against Nottingham Forest.#ManCity#MCFC#bbcfootball
It is worth noting that this was only Rodri’s first red at Manchester City and while he might not be as much of a master in the dark arts as his predecessor Fernandinho, he’s still become the go-to man when it comes to breaking up play and has picked up just 26 yellow cards in four years at the Etihad.
The CDM will be available for City’s Champions League match against RB Leipzig next Wednesday but won’t be eligible for a Premier League squad again until 21 October against Brighton.
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You can watch the highlights from Man City 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest, including Rodri’s red card, down below:
Featured Image — Premier League/Sky Sports (via Twitter)
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
25th September 2023 
