Last night, Man City won 2-0 against Wydad (Morocco) in the opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup. Both goals of The Citizens were scored in the first half by Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku.
Rico Lewis received a red card after kicking his opponent in the face (Screenshot).
In the second half, Man City had a lot of possession and attacked fiercely but could not score any more goals. Not only that, they also had to play with one less man at the end of the second half when Rico Lewis was sent off.
In the 88th minute, Rico Lewis tackled the ball but his foot accidentally touched the opponent's face. Immediately, the referee showed a red card to send off the Man City player. VAR intervened and upheld this decision.
Rico Lewis was really shocked by this decision. He stayed on the field to prove his innocence. After the match, coach Pep Guardiola was also angry with the referee for the decision to send Rico Lewis off.
Coach Pep Guardiola expressed his opinion: “Rico Lewis touched the ball first and both feet were on the grass. Referee Ramon Abatti said he raised his foot but in fact it was still on the grass. It was a natural move. Rico Lewis has never had any intention of playing dirty. However, that is no longer important.”
However, not everyone agrees with coach Pep Guardiola's point of view. Former Chelsea midfielder Oki Mikel argued: "It's true that he touched the ball first but his foot swung up and kicked the opponent in the face. You can't say that the ball was due to Rico Lewis's slide. The referee handled it correctly."
Coach Pep Guardiola is not satisfied with the referee (Photo: Getty).
On social media, many fans were divided when talking about this situation. One person expressed: “Rico Lewis was sent off despite getting the ball neatly”. The next person wrote: “If that was a red card, gradually all tackles will be banned”.
However, some people supported the referee's opinion: "He kicked someone in the face. He deserved to be sent off."
In this situation, Rico Lewis played quite well. He played energetically and created many new features for Man City's playing style along with new players such as Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Victor Reis (who just played his 4th match for Man City).
In the next round, Man City will face UAE representative Al Ain at 8am on June 23.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-pep-guardiola-phan-no-voi-trong-tai-cdv-tranh-cai-du-doi-20250619095246733.htm
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