UK: 18+ USA: 21+ | Begambleaware.org | T&Cs apply | Play Responsibly
Man City manager Pep Guardiola has said that he believes Manchester United’s opening goal in Saturday’s Manchester Derby at Old Trafford should not have been allowed, due to the offside Marcus Rashford “intervening” in play.
Guardiola’s City went ahead on 60 minutes after substitute Jack Grealish got on the end of a Kevin de Bruyne cross and headed into goal. However, their local rivals would launch a late comeback to win the game 2-1.
The first goal, scored by Bruno Fernandes on 78 minutes, was extremely controversial. The goal came after Casemiro played a pass through to Rashford, who tried to get on to the ball despite being offside.
The striker did not touch the ball though, and Fernandes came from behind him to put the ball into the City goal. Minutes later, Rashford slid in the winner after he got on to a Garnacho cross to the delight of the home support.
City protested to referee Stuart Atwell after the goal was awarded and after the game, though there was little they could do to change affairs. Post-match, Guardiola had his say in an interview.
Guardiola Comments Post-Match
The manager clearly felt that the Red Devil’s first goal should not have stood and made his feelings clear.
“Manu Akanji stops the line (of running),” stated Guardiola, “If he knows that he is going to go with Rashford, he will go back with him and do the duel one versus one and he sees what happens. But he intervenes in the action.”
“The referee decided he did not intervene in this stadium. It’s ok, what are we going to do? Are we going to make a complaint? No. Congratulations for that. Sometimes it happens in our (favor),” Guardiola added.
“The decision is they didn’t believe Rashford was intervening in this action when this happened. It’s Old Trafford. We have to play much better. Like it’s Anfield. We have to do better,” the manager said.
“The rule is the rule, the interpretation belongs to the referee. I say Rashford is offside, Bruno is not. The situation is for the referees.”
How to better use Haaland
The ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss also explained to the media how his side need to better utilize star forward Erling Haaland.
“Maybe we need to find him a little bit more in final third,” Guardiola explained, “We tried to drop him knowing Shaw and Varane would follow him but it’s not easy to create chances.”
“United in the last games only conceded one goal here in the Premier League,” the Man City manager said.
“We had one or two other ones with the last pass, or last cross for the little bit moments,” he said, “I gave credit to United for the quality they have.”
“We behaved good, we behaved how we have been in the last six years and the many times we came here together. Monopolize the ball and they just defend, defend and wait for the right action.”
City face another grueling EPL encounter in the shape of Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium this Thursday, where they will hope to get back on track after two consecutive losses.
Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!