Man City, Guardiola accused of ‘unfair play’ by Daniel Farke after Leeds win: ‘If we try to bend rules…’

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has accused Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and manager Pep Guardiola of unfair play as his team suffered a 3-2 defeat in the English Premier League on Saturday. Farke has claimed that Donnarumma feigned an injury in the second half so that Guardiola could relay fresh instructions to his team at 1-1.

City made a blistering start to the match, taking a lead as early as the first minute through Phil Foden, while Josko Gvardiol doubled the lead in the 25th minute. Leeds, however, started mounting a comeback when Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled a goal back in the 49th minute.

Man City, Guardiola accused of unfair play

While Leeds were still a goal down, they were dominating the proceedings and this is when Man City goalkeeper Donnarumma asked for medical attention. This allowed Guardiola to gather his team on the touchline and provide additional instructions.

“It is not the elephant in the room. Why he (Donnarumma) went down it was obvious. It is smart,” Farke told reporters after the match. “It is within the rules, so I can’t complain.”

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“If I like it? If it’s within the sense of fair play? If it should be like this? I will keep this to myself. It is up to the authorities to find a solution.”

Guardiola’s change in tactics did not help City immediately with Lukas Nmecha levelling the game in the 69th minute from a rebound after his penalty was saved by Donnarumma.

But City rallied late in the game and Foden found a winner in the 91st minute, scoring his second goal of the night to help his side get all three points.

“We need to educate our players in football what to do in terms of fair play and sportsmanship,” Farke said.

“If we just try to bend the rules and even do a fake injury in order to do an additional team talk, I do not like personally.”

City climbed to 25 points in 13 games in the league table, reducing gap to four points with leaders Arsenal. Guardiola’s side will next face Fulham in the midweek fixture on Tuesday.

With agency inputs