Guardiola warns Haaland not to receive a red card
In the 44th minute, from Kevin De Bruyne's cross, centre-back John Stones headed the right post to the left side of Everton. Vitaliy Mykolenko ran to control the ball and then fell to the ground when he received a kick with both feet from behind Haaland. Everton players reacted furiously, asking referee Andrew Madley to red card the Norwegian striker. However, Haaland only received a yellow card.
On social media, many fans think that Haaland deserves to be disqualified for this malicious tackle. This is believed to be an act of retaliation when the 22-year-old striker was kicked in the ankle by midfielder Ben Godfrey early in the game. Haaland also hit his face in the face, causing James Tarkowski to fall to the ground, trying to cover the ball.
After the game, Guardiola admitted Haaland was angry at Godfrey's tackle, and deserved a yellow card for a foul on Mykolenko. "I also warned Haaland to be careful because Man City can't play without people, and he reacted very well," said the Spanish coach.
Guardiola also hinted that referee Madley did not make tough decisions to protect Man City players. "I don't want to criticize the referee, and I don't care. But Jack Grealish was also fouled three or four times and nothing happened," he added.
On the Eithad field yesterday, Riyad Mahrez crossed to Haaland to finish close to the goal to open the scoring for Man City in the 24th minute. In the second half, Demarai Gray scored a super strike to the far corner, making Ederson unstoppable and brought home. one point for Everton.
This match, Everton played slowly, many times fouled and provoked the home player. The fact that an assistant referee had a problem with his headset, causing the second half to stop for 11 minutes, also contributed to the rhythm of Man City's game.
Guardiola did not complain about the way the opponent played, even praising Everton for scoring a beautiful goal. The 51-year-old coach admitted: "Of course the result was not as expected, but that is football and it is not the first time this has happened. Man City broke a bit of rhythm because the referees were not well prepared. , but we did everything and unfortunately couldn't win."
In the late match, Arsenal beat Brighton 4-2 to widen the gap with Man City to seven points in the Premier League. If defeating Newcastle on January 3, the "Gunners" will temporarily leave Man City - the team that has to fight Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on January 5 - 10 points.
