VAR the reason for stronger Man City performance, says Pep Guardiola after convincing 1st leg victory in the league cup.
The lengthy video assistance referee delay that prevented Antoine Semenyo from scoring the game’s second goal dampened Pep Guardiola’s obvious joy at Manchester City’s 2-0 victory at Newcastle in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
The manager of Manchester City responded with an epic, and frequently nonsensical, tirade about VAR and its alleged shortcomings or, more importantly, its lack of involvement during City’s 2-1 loss to Newcastle in November and their FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace last season.
Positively, Guardiola thought that the goal that was disallowed made his players “angry,” which contributed to Rayan Cherki’s goal in the 98th minute, which gives City a comfortable advantage for the second leg at the Etihad next month. Semenyo had already taken the lead with his second goal since signing from Bournemouth.
“I think my players were angry,” said Guardiola. “Maybe it [the VAR delay] helped us to be that way. We know how it works and it made us stronger. The spirit was there. But I feel it and smell it in every training session.”
As City set their sights on Wembley Eddie Howe’s hopes of his Newcastle side retaining the trophy they won last March are fading. “I think we have left ourselves a mountain to climb in the second leg,” admitted Howe.
“We had chances, there were moments to make that score very different but we didn’t take them. I thought we looked a little bit fatigued. That’s understandable. But we’re still alive, we’re still fighting. It’s very difficult to turn it round but it’s all about the next goal. If we can get the next goal in the second leg we’re very much in it. We can be competitive, We can still cause City problems. I don’t think this should dent our confidence, it should enhance it.”