Following his sending off during the Manchester City-Liverpool Champions League tie, Pep Guardiola was fuming about the referee’s decision to not give Leroy Sané a legitimate goal that could have swayed the tie.
In his rant, he recalled an incident last year when Viktor Kassai sent off Arturo Vidal against Real Madrid, suggesting the referee favoured the Spanish side.
At least, that’s how it’s gone down in Spain, with El Confidencial explaining the claims, when relayed to Zinedine Zidane, infuriated the French manager.
Prior to his tie against Juventus, the Real Madrid coach bit his tongue, but after the dramatic ending at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, with Gianluigi Buffon getting sent off and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a last minute penalty to put his club through, he had to say something.
In fact, El Confidencial describe his comments as Zidane ‘going for Guardiola’s jugular’.
He said: “You just have to shut up sometimes. I had moments where I could have argued with referees, but I didn’t do it. What Guardiola has to say doesn’t interest me because we went through and won the Champions League.
“A referee’s job is hard. Sometimes it goes in your favour, other times against.”
As for his view on the incident: “It was a penalty, and, in the end, we went through.”
El Confidencial explain this is a new side to the normally quiet manager, one who doesn’t want his hard work to be discredited by others, especially not by a ‘colleague in the profession’.
That’s the Manchester City manager told then.
