Pep Guardiola slams referee’s derby decision but admits Manchester City deserved to lose

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola did not use a controversial officiating decision in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Manchester United as an excuse for the result.

City were at their bleakest in several years as they produced a shambolic, toothless display against their local rivals, who ran out deserved winners in the first game of Michael Carrick’s second caretaker stint at Old Trafford.

Bryan Mbuemo and Patrick Dorgu were on the scoresheet for the Reds, who had the upper hand over the visitors from start to finish as Manchester City’s aspirations for a fifth Premier League title in six seasons were handed another setback.

United arguably wanted it more as they dug deep, fought for every header and second ball, whereas Manchester City looked tired in the backdrop of a testing run of games, though the fixture calendar is only set to get more demanding for Guardiola and co.

A major talking point from Saturday’s result was a 10th minute challenge from United defender Diogo Dalot on Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku, which prompted on-pitch referee Anthony Taylor to show Dalot a yellow card.

However, replays showed that the challenge was indeed much worse than it appeared it real time as Dalot made studs-high contact with Doku’s knee-cap – a tackle that could easily have administered a straight red card.

Much to the frustration of Manchester City fans, squad and Guardiola, the incident was not deemed worthy enough for Taylor to go over to the VAR monitor and have a rethink on his initial decision of a yellow card.

Explaining the decision in a statement published in-game, the Premier League said: “The referee’s call of yellow card to (Diogo) Dalot for a reckless challenge (on Jeremy Doku) was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact deemed to be glancing and not with excessive force.”

Taylor’s on-pitch decision of a yellow card and VAR’s subsequent backing of the same prompted huge controversy in-game and after full-time at Old Trafford, with many arguing that the tide of the game would have turned had Dalot been sent off after 10 minutes.

However, Guardiola admitted that while he disagrees with the referee’s decision, Manchester City did not deserve to win the game as such.

“It would be poor as a manager if you analyse that to win or lose a game. They deserved (to win),” the Manchester City boss said on the controversial incident in his post-match press conference.

Legendary English referee Mike Dean admitted in a Sky Sports segment that Dalot’s challenge deserved a red card “all day long”, with City right to be aggrieved at the decision but perhaps in full knowledge that they were an absolute disgrace at the home of their city rivals on Saturday.