The Manchester City boss was fizzing over the disallowed goal against Newcastle United
07:00, 14 Jan 2026Updated 10:03, 14 Jan 2026
Pep Guardiola manager of Manchester City(Image: Richard Lee/Shutterstock)
Pep Guardiola has revealed he kept quiet at St James’ Park over decisions that should have gone Manchester City’s way in the 2-1 Premier League win for Newcastle United back in November.
The Man City chief was quizzed why Antoine Semenyo’s goal was chalked off for with Erling Haaland deemed offside and why the decision took more than five minutes, Guardiola looked bemused but harked back to a moment in which Fabian Schar tackled Phil Foden for a penalty shout last year.
Guardiola – who also brought up a red card decision that went against him at Wembley in the FA Cup final – said: “It’s a good question. I will say it now. I would like to know why VAR at 60 minutes in the Premier League game at Newcastle, when we lost 2-1, it was 0-0, and it was an insane penalty on Schar for Phil Foden and not even a consideration.
“And at 20 minutes, there is an unbelievable penalty from a shot from Jeremy Doku that hit Thiaw’s hand, and not even VAR.
“Today, four people were not able to decide because the line was I don’t know, but the second goal that Newcastle scored, the line was perfect.
“I’m not suspicious of that in ten years. I didn’t say anything when we lost 2-1 here. I didn’t say anything in the FA Cup Final against Crystal Palace when it was a red card after 30 minutes for Dean Henderson. Did I say anything? No. It’s ok. It’s fine.
“I’m pretty sure Howard Webb is going to come in tomorrow to give an explanation of that.”
Despite having a comfortable lead though, Guardiola refused to declare the tie over. He said: “I am happy but it is just one leg, we have the second at home. We have a very good result.
“It should have been 3-0, but we are quite used to this at the moment.”
Guardiola also said he expects things to go against his side when the stakes are high, he said: “It’s in that situation how we react. It’s the semi-finals. We played a lot to reach the finals. It will make us stronger.”
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