Manchester City’s manager Guardiola ‘angry’ with Rodri for red card

Despite Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday, their key midfielder Rodri was off by a red card in the game and now faces a three-game suspension.

The punishment means that Rodri will miss the EFL Cup game against Newcastle United on September 27 and two Premier League games against Wolverhampton Wanderers on September 30 and Arsenal on October 8, all on the road. He can play in the UEFA Champions League group game against RB Leipzig on October 4.

City established an early 2-0 lead in the first half of Saturday’s game. Then, only one minute into the second half, Rodri got his hands on the neck of Morgan Gibbs-White and hence the red card. In fact, the competition was so full of gunpowder smell that referee Anthony Taylor doled out 11 yellow cards to try to keep the situation under control.

“Yes. I don’t like to play with 10 for our faults,” Guardiola, manager of City, said when asked if he was angry with Rodri’s behavior. “I said at half-time, be careful guys. The game has been in a position where we are comfortable. Relax, control your emotions. Unfortunately Rodri didn’t do it.”

“Hopefully Rodri will learn. The game was perfect [for] 35 minutes and after that it became a little bit chaos. That wasn’t our responsibility, that’s for sure. But Rodri had to control himself and his emotions. Because I can get a yellow card but Rodri can’t get a yellow card but I don’t play,” Guardiola added. He told reporters that Rodri apologized to the rest of the team for the red card.

City are currently leading the Premier League with six straight wins since the 2023-24 campaign began. The absence of Rodri will leave a dangerous vacancy in the club’s midfield for others to work harder to fill.