{"id":97980,"date":"2026-01-27T15:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/97980\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:24:09","slug":"man-city-boss-pep-guardiola-continues-criticism-of-sensitive-referees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/97980\/","title":{"rendered":"Man City boss Pep Guardiola continues criticism of \u2018sensitive\u2019 referees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guardiola accused Hallam, who was taking charge of his first Premier League game, of attempting to make the story about himself after sticking by a decision not to award City a penalty.<\/p>\n

Hallam had been advised to review an appeal for handball against Wolves\u2019 Yerson Mosquera on the pitchside monitor but did not change his original verdict.<\/p>\n

\"PepPep Guardiola with referee Farai Hallam following the Premier League match against Wolves (Martin Rickett\/PA)<\/p>\n

City manager Guardiola later demanded an explanation and broadened his complaints to reference other decisions he feels have gone against his club.<\/p>\n

While opinions on the actual penalty decision have varied, Guardiola\u2019s comments about Hallam have been widely condemned.<\/p>\n

Guardiola, however, has not backtracked \u2013 although he did offer a qualified apology for any offence.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of Wednesday\u2019s Champions League encounter with Galatasaray, Guardiola said: \u201cThey defend each other with their statements, always, completely understandably \u2013 they have to do that. (Referees chief) Howard Webb defends the referees.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, at the same time, I have to defend my club. How many times last season did I criticise referees \u2013 our worst season in 10 years? How many times? It never happened.<\/p>\n

\"PepPep Guardiola, centre, reacts on the touchline against Manchester United (Martin Rickett\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cAgainst (Manchester) United, after the game, what were my comments about the referees?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was incredibly respectful, in 9-10 years, with the referees. Never ever \u2013 with defeats \u2013 I never comment on absolutely anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I do it, it\u2019s because I believe it\u2019s fair enough to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked specifically about Hallam, Guardiola said: \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. If he felt offended I\u2019m so sorry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s not easy on debut and it happened. I know they are sensitive, everyone. I know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RefereeReferee Farai Hallam makes an announcement of no penalty following a VAR review (Martin Rickett\/PA)<\/p>\n

City\u2019s 2-0 victory over Wolves otherwise lifted spirits after damaging defeats to Manchester United and Bodo\/Glimt in their two previous outings.<\/p>\n

The loss in Norway has left them needing to beat Galatasaray at the Etihad Stadium to have hope of getting into the top eight \u2013 and securing an automatic last-16 place \u2013 in the Champions League. Results elsewhere will also be critical.<\/p>\n

Guardiola said: \u201cI would prefer to have more (points) but it is what we deserve, 13 points. We need to focus on trying to win our game and seeing which position we finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game will see City come up against two of their former players in Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane.<\/p>\n

\"IlkayIlkay Gundogan returns to Manchester City on Wednesday (Adam Davy\/PA)<\/p>\n

Guardiola said: \u201cMy gratitude is eternal for both of them. They made huge contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland, who has scored just once in his last nine appearances, is expected to return to the starting line-up after being among the substitutes at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Guardiola said: \u201cWe have to play better, create more chances. He will score. Never underestimate the strikers, the goalscorers, because always they will make you silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe won\u2019t not score again for the rest of his life, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guardiola accused Hallam, who was taking charge of his first Premier League game, of attempting to make the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-97980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-reading-city","9":"tag-reading-city-headlines","10":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}