Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has always had a somewhat fraught relationship with the media in the Spanish capital, and it showed little sign of improving ahead of Manchester City’s latest clash with Real Madrid. Asked whether he would ask his players to provoke Vinicius Junior, he was blunt in his response.
It was put to Guardiola that City will be going against a Real Madrid side that has four players in danger of suspension for the second leg with a yellow card, Aurelien Tchouameni, Vinicius Junior, Eduardo Camavinga and Jude Bellingham. He was asked with Vinicius having a short fuse, whether he would instruct his side to provoke a booking for the Brazilian.
“How do you do that? How do you make it so that he doesn’t play the second leg? What do we have to do?” Guardiola said, cutting Monica Marchante off, who responded that they had to provoke a yellow card from Vinicius.
Pep Guardiola took issue with a question last night over whether he would instruct his side to provoke a yellow card from Vinicius Junior. The Brazilian is one away from suspension.
"You can forget about that. You can forget about it."https://t.co/hoJ0KuYgsp
— Football España (@footballespana_) April 9, 2024
“Ahhh. You can forget about that. You can forget about it. What we have to do is play a good game. If somebody gets a yellow, it’s because it happens. I have never, in all my 14-year career as a manager, and I know you won’t believe me, but I have never said to my players to do this because they might get a yellow. But I’ll put forward all of the players I have coached as testimony.”
It would be no surprise to see Vinicius Junior toeing the line at the very least. He has served a suspension this season for disciplinary reasons, picking up five yellows in La Liga, the majority of which involved dissent of some sort. Guardiola will not be trying to exploit his ‘short fuse’ as Marchante termed it though, as he made quite clear.
Only when they are in control – if his team is playing against a strong opponent or loses control of the game then all bets are off. Cheating tactics are then deployed to gain an advantage. This was clearly visible in his Barca team. It may not be required these days since his team play much better than the opponents (most of the time). Guardiola is an expert at being 2-faced when necessary. His removal (via Dani Alves) of Pepe in Madrid’s midfield during the 2nd classico of April 2011 is there to see. It worked.