STILL ‘SO ANGRY’, PEP GUARDIOLA. WITH KYLE WALKER RED CARD IN RB LEIPZIG GAME AND THREE MATCHS BAN.
Pep Guardiola still ‘so angry’, with Kyle Walker for red card in RB Leipzig match.
Pep Guardiola says he is still “so angry” with Kyle Walker after he was banned for three matches following a red card in Manchester City’s final Champions League group game in December.
Walker was shown a straight red for a kick on RB Leipzig forward Andre Silva, with City already having qualified for the knockout stages.
UEFA deemed the foul to be “assault” which resulted in a three-match suspension.Man’ City saw an appeal rejected last month.
Walker will miss the second leg of City’s last-16 clash with Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday and also the first leg of their quarter-final tie if they advance.
“Kyle Walker deserved the three, he did a stupid thing,” said City manager Guardiola
.
“I am still so angry with him. He knows it. He’s so important for us. See how he played against Manchester United? Against Leipzig he did this action when we had qualified, he deserved it.
“The club appealed, I do not agree. Hopefully he will learn for the future.”
City are in a commanding position against Sporting after an impressive 5-0 victory in the first leg in Portugal.
That result should be enough to ensure comfortable progress into the quarter-finals, but they will be missing several players in defence at the Etihad Stadium.
Joao Cancelo misses out with illness, Walker is suspended, and Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are both injured.
On Ake, Guardiola said: “Tomorrow is too risky and with Ruben out for a long time we cannot risk another central defender.
I know we have five days before [Crystal] Palace, after this game we have some recovery days but we cannot lose Nathan.
It’s too risky, the doctor said to me.”
“We have just three defenders, so we have to adapt and use the second team and see what we can do. We will see the training today and see what we will do.
