What Man City boss Pep Guardiola told Manchester United after VAR controversy

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about a potential red card for Diogo Dalot in the Manchester derby

Pep Guardiola said Manchester City cannot afford to excuse their performance against Manchester United because Diogo Dalot should have been sent off. The Blues boss felt it should have been a red card but congratulated Michael Carrick and his team on a deserved victory.

Dalot planted his studs into Jeremy Doku's knee in the opening minutes of the game in a decision that earned him a yellow card from referee Anthony Taylor. The incident was looked at by VAR, but it was decided that Dalot's contact wasn't severe enough for him to see red.

Guardiola, who ranted about the decisions that have gone against his team for the last 10 years after more unwanted VAR intervention in midweek at Newcastle, thought Dalot should have gone and was 'not surprised' by the decision. However, he wants his players to look at themselves going forward and focus on what they can do better if they are to be successful going forward.

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"It's a red card but it would be poor as a manager to analyse that to win or lose a game. I said to Michael and the players, and right now here, that they deserve it," said Guardiola. "A red card would definitely have changed it but it would not have made us grow up with new players and know exactly what we have to do. It is what it is.

"Eighty-five minutes, 10 against 11, I believe, but if we played with the energy that we played we were nowhere near. I could say that and blame but we will not grow up or move forward. That decision is not a surprise for me. It happened in the past, since I arrived here.

"It happened with one action Man City vs Chelsea with [Ilkay] Gundogan and [Ngolo] Kante, but it's not about that. You grow up and talk about ourselves. There are a lot of teams that can win 10 against 11 and I have the feeling that with the game we played maybe we would not have won.

"If the players have excuses, we will be in trouble for the future. We have to look at ourselves and today the analysis is that Man United were better than Man City. You have to accept it. In 10 years, how many times have we been better?"