Guardiola slams Walker for ‘unnecessary’ red card
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said Kyle Walker's red card in their 2-1 Champions League defeat by RB Leipzig yesterday morning (Singapore time) was "unnecessary" and that the England international needed to learn from his mistake.
Walker was sent off in the 82nd minute for kicking goalscorer Andre Silva and will be suspended when City return to European action for the knockout rounds in February. Dominik Szoboszlai also scored for Leipzig while Riyad Mahrez found the net for City.
"Kyle Walker is an important player for us and it is unnecessary to lose him like this," Guardiola said. "I hope he learns from this. The red card hurts us, especially for the round of 16.
"It's a red card, definitely."
Ex-England and Arsenal defender Martin Keown agreed, saying on BT Sport: "He didn't seem to be himself tonight and he's completely lost his head there...
"He's frustrated with his performance and at that particular player... It's going to cost City now in the next round."
Despite the defeat, Guardiola commended his side for securing top spot in Group A.
He said: "In general, we made an incredibly good group stage. We qualified with one game left from a tough group, so I am more than satisfied with the performance in every single game." - REUTERS
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