Pep Guardiola could be sanctioned further for continuing to wear a yellow ribbon in defiance of Football Association rules, with Manchester City’s manager facing a potential touchline ban. On Friday the FA charged Guardiola with wearing a political message and he has until next Monday to enter a plea. This was regarding his wearing of the ribbon during City’s FA Cup defeat at Wigan Athletic on 19 February.
Yet Guardiola again wore the ribbon for the Carabao Cup victory against Arsenal on Sunday. This was City’s first game since Wigan and Guardiola could face a separate charge. City are at Arsenal on Thursday and host Chelsea on Sunday. Guardiola said after the defeat of Arsenal that he would continue to wear the ribbon in defiance of the FA.
Once Guardiola has responded to the existing charge a date will be set to deal with the case. He can offer a written deposition, request a personal hearing or offer no statement at all.
An independent commission will decide Guardiola’s punishment if it finds him guilty and, because there is no set tariff, it could opt for
a range of sanctions, from a fine to a touchline ban. For any future punishments there would be an aggravating factor too, meaning Guardiola would face a more severe punishment should he be charged and found guilty a second time.
Guardiola has said the ribbon is in support of two Catalan separatist leaders who have been imprisoned. The FA has been in discussion with City since December regarding Guardiola’s wearing of it and he had twice been warned before the charge.
Vincent Kompany, named the man of the match in the final after capping a commanding display in defence with his first goal of the season, said City must demonstrate sustained trophy accumulation before they can be considered genuinely outstanding.
“This is a reward for having played so well this season on so many occasions,” he Kompany said. “We lost a game [in the FA Cup] against Wigan and we came into this game thinking all of a sudden two games could cost us two trophies and that wouldn’t have been deserved.
“I’d like to see the same focus throughout the next few games. If we can win the Premier League and then go again and again, then this team will be better than our previous teams. I don’t want to put people on a pedestal when we haven’t achieved all of our targets yet. For now, well done, keep going.”
Kompany’s goal was celebrated with a relish and relief indicative not only of its importance in deciding the match but also its importance to the scorer. Injuries have limited the Belgian to 14, 11 and 10 (so far) league appear-ances in the past three seasons, contributing to a build-up of emotion and frustration which were released when he turned in Ilkay Gündogan’s shot.
“The goal means the world to me,” he said. “The celebration was just pure emotion – what you can see is what I feel. I’m fortunate to be at a club where I get incredible support from the medical staff. But coming back to where I am now, a lot of it is just my own doing as well, just absolute stubbornness. I almost get an enjoyment out of adversity in life. However bad it can be, I’ve always been like this. I’m kind of the wrong guy to bet against.”
City celebrated all three goals with gusto but only for Kompany’s did Claudio Bravo sprint the length of the field to congratulate the scorer, demonstrating his standing in the squad. “It will give a massive boost for him,” Kevin De Bruyne said. “Was it a great Kompany performance? I don’t know. I didn’t play so many games with him, especially not important games. But everybody knows what he can do for a team.”
City’s next game is also against Arsenal. The last time City won the League Cup, beating Liverpool in 2016, they played the same opponents three days later and lost 3-0, an experience they will be determined not to repeat. “We got spanked,” Kompany said. “Experience is a great thing. So we can avoid it by mentioning that this is what happened and by not forgetting how we got here.”
