Pep Guardiola Fires Warning to Man City Duo for Going Partying After Leeds Win

Pep Guardiola Fires Warning to Man City Duo for Going Partying After Leeds Win

Rene Otinga
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:50 PM
  • Guardiola has sounded a warning to the duo of Jack Grealish and Phil Foden
  • The pair was spotted at a night out following City’s 7-0 thumping of Leeds United
  • The Manchester City boss confirmed the pair missed the Newcastle game because “they did not deserve to play”.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has sounded a warning to his star pair of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish over their conduct.

Pep Guardiola
Guardiola said the pair of Jack Grealish and Phil Foden "did not deserve to play" against Newcastle United. Photo by Visionhaus.
Source: Getty Images

The England stars were notable absentees from Manchester City’s recent 4-0 win over Newcastle United and Guardiola took to address the situation.

Guardiola confirmed that there were no injury concerns regarding Foden and Grealish, and the pair were overlooked for the game because of a disciplinary issue.

At the back of a 7-0 win over Leeds United, the pair was pictured on a night out. Both players were on the scoresheet in that match.

"I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch," Guardiola told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"So they have to be focused all the time because the distractions in the Christmastime and everything that happens - you have to still be focused."

Asked whether he rotated his squad for the Newcastle game, the gaffer said:

“It was not rotation, no. I decided on this team because they deserved to play — these guys and not the other ones.”

At the time Grealish and Foden were out partying, Guardiola was absent from England as he had flown to Barcelona to be with Sergio Aguero as the Argentine announced his retirement from football.

As far as Guardiola’s concerns about the England duo were concerned, they seem to be justified , especially because of the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the Premier League.

City are one of the few Premier League clubs who were lucky to not see their matches postponed as they went four points clear at the top of the table following the win over Newcastle.

The win, coupled with Liverpool’s frustrating draw against Tottenham, ensured Guardiola’s wads would be top of the table at Christmas.

If stats are anything to go by, one should expect City to go on to clinch the title as they have done so on four occasions where they were top at Christmas.

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Rene Otinga
Rene Otinga is a sports journalist with over eight years of working experience in digital media. Rene's experience includes working as a Copywriter at X News Kenya and TUKO.co.ke.
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