Warnock: What does Guardiola expect in English football?

Ian Watson

Neil Warnock has told Pep Guardiola that Manchester City gave as good as they got after Pep Guardiola complained over some rough treatment received by his players in the FA Cup win at Cardiff.

City reached the last 16 of the competition with first-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling clinching a 2-0 win.

But victory came at a cost with City boss Guardiola reporting that Leroy Sane will be “out for a while” after the Germany winger was the victim of a dreadful Joe Bennett tackle right on half-time.

Bennett was later sent off in the final seconds for another poor challenge on Brahim Diaz, and Guardiola marched onto the field at full-time to complain about some of the challenges to referee Lee Mason.

The City boss pleaded after the game for protection for players from referees but Warnock also pointed the finger at the visitors over some dubious challenges.

“They dished it out a bit, they had one or two naughty tackles,” Warnock said. “He (Guardiola) is in England, what do you expect?

“I suppose when you’re like that, you want everything to be nice, pretty and perfect. But you don’t get that here, you get different challenges.

“I was disappointed he (Bennett) got sent off at the end, it was an absolutely pathetic challenge when he is on a booking.

“To do something like that I think is disrespectful to his team-mates.”