Daniel Farke accused Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of feigning an injury, which granted Pep Guardiola the opportunity to give his squad a crucial pep talk before they fought back to win 3-2 against Leeds in a Premier League clash.
City dominated the first half at the Etihad Stadium, initially taking the lead through Phil Foden‘s goal just 59 seconds into the match, followed by a second from Josko Gvardiol. However, the momentum shifted in the second half when substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin brought Leeds back into the game.
The score stood at 2-1 in favor of City when Donnarumma called for medical assistance, prompting Guardiola to gather his team to adjust to Leeds’ tactical changes.
While City struggled initially after Nmecha equalized from a penalty rebound, they ultimately secured the win with Foden’s late strike in stoppage time.
Despite his team’s eventual equalizer, Farke sensed a pivotal change once Donnarumma received treatment. He remarked, “It’s clever use of the rules. Whether I appreciate it or think it promotes fair play is another matter, but I’ll leave it to the authorities to address this.” He added that he approached the fourth official, who said they were powerless to intervene.
“If we fail to educate our players on sportsmanship and fair play, and they resort to tactics like a fake injury to gain an advantage, it’s disheartening. That’s not something I support, but if it’s within the rules, I can’t complain,” he concluded.
Guardiola, on the other hand, mentioned that he thought Donnarumma’s injury was legitimate and had instructed James Trafford to warm up just in case.
“I didn’t talk to Gigio [Donnarumma] afterwards. When it happened, I turned to the bench and said, ‘James, get ready.’ You can ask me about it in the next press conference, and I will find out from Gigio,” Guardiola said.
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City came into this match on the back of two consecutive losses to Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen. Letting a two-goal lead slip against a relegation-threatened team would have been a significant setback for their title ambitions.
“It was a relief,” Guardiola said regarding Foden’s late goal. “We played well in the first half, but we should have finished it off given the chances we created. We didn’t concede initially, but then their system hurt us as it had done previously. After we let in the first goal, we had to change our approach completely.” He added, “Football is full of emotions. After conceding the second goal, we stepped up. We needed to get the ball into the box rapidly. In the end, it was all about Phil’s quality in those critical positions.”