Manchester City survived a late scare against Leeds United after missing a penalty and conceding a goal – and Pep Guardiola was not happy at all with Erling Haaland
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola gave Erling Haaland a dressing down for handing a penalty to Ilkay Gundogan after he hit the post.
City, who cruised into a two-nil first-half lead against Leeds at the Etihad thanks to a Gundogan brace, hadn’t added to the scoreline in the second 45 when Phil Foden was brought down in the box and referee Andy Madley pointed to the spot.
Regular taker Haaland passed up on the opportunity from 12 yards with a little over five minutes of normal time remaining, instead giving the ball away to his team-mate on a hat-trick. Gundogan subsequently missed the target with his effort.
Guardiola strode out from his dugout and pointed directly at Haaland, wagging his finger and telling City’s goal machine: “You have to take it, you have to take it.”
The fuming Spaniard’s mood didn’t improve as Leeds raced up the other end and halved the deficit through Rodrigo, who finished low past Ederson. Fortunately for Guardiola’s blood pressure level, they hung on to the 2-1 victory.
İlkay Gündoğan crashes his penalty off the inside of the post 🤯💥 pic.twitter.com/62MTLzP2Kx
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 6, 2023
Many City fans agreed with him that Haaland should’ve stepped up like usual. One tweeted: “He’s bang on, and they’ll pay for that in the dressing room.”
“He’s 100% right. It’s not a testimonial,” echoed a second, while a third commented: “Gundo wanting a hat-trick might have costed us.”
A fourth made light of the situation as they joked: “He must have him as captain in his FPL like me!” And a fifth similarly wrote: “Seems Pep Guardiola captained Haaland in his FPL team.”
City opened up a four-point gap to Arsenal at the top of the table having claimed all three points for the 10th league match in a row. The Gunners can close it again when they face Newcastle at St James’ Park tomorrow (May 7).
SOURCE: dailystar.co.uk
