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…"
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 24, 2023
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.
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”.
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"
— BBC Sport Manchester (@BBCRMsport) September 25, 2023
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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