Pep Guardiola criticises Kyle Walker’s ‘unnecessary’ red card in Man City's Champions League loss at Leipzig
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Published 08/12/2021 at 09:31 GMT
Kyle Walker kicked out at Andre Silva late on and the defender will now be suspended for at least the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. City boss Pep Guardiola suggested some stern words were said to Walker in the dressing room after the RB Leipzig defeat, and called his dismissal “unnecessary” when asked by reporters.
Kyle Walker of Manchester City is shown a red card by Match Referee, Sandro Schaerer during the UEFA Champions League group A match between RB Leipzig and Manchester City at Red Bull Arena
Image credit: Getty Images
Pep Guardiola was critical of Kyle Walker after the Manchester City defender was sent off late into their 2-1 defeat at RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.
City had already reached the knockouts as Group A winners but finished the group campaign with a loss as Dominik Szoboszlai and Andre Silva scored before Riyad Mahrez got one back.
Walker petulantly kicked out at the back of Silva’s ankles late on, and having been shown a straight red the defender will now miss City’s first leg of their last 16 match – and potentially the second if the suspension is increased.
“The red card hurts us, especially for the round of 16,” Guardiola said.
“Kyle Walker is an important player for us and is unnecessary to lose him like this. I hope he learns from this.”
In his press conference, a short response on Walker’s dismissal suggested Guardiola had plenty to say to his defender after the match.
“It's a red card, definitely,” Guardiola said. “I'm not coming here to say what happened in the dressing room.”
A difficult night in Germany left Guardiola frustrated by his side’s mistakes, although he was happy to top a group also featuring Paris Saint-Germain with a game to spare.
Guardiola added: “In the first half we lacked rhythm. We had problems in contact and they have a really good team - we knew that from before.
“The second half was much, much better. We were more aggressive, we played to win the game but, unfortunately, we made one or two mistakes and they punished us. We lost. Congratulations to Leipzig.
“Of course it is better not to concede goals but in all the games we played much better than the opponents, except today where we struggled a little bit in the first half.
“But in general we made an incredibly good group stage. We qualified with one game left from a tough group, so I am more than satisfied with the performance in every single game.”
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