Comment comes after Manchester City scored late to deny Leeds comeback draw
Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke has called for a rule change after accusing Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of feigning injury for tactical advantage on Saturday.
Leeds had gone 2-0 down in the first half but the momentum was with them midway through the second half after halving the deficit.
With City under pressure, Donnarumma went to ground and called for treatment. Guardiola used the opportunity to gather his players and explain some new tactics.
It didn’t appear to have any immediate effect to speak of because Leeds soon drew level, although City eventually won after Phil Foden scored in stoppage time.
But Farke said: “Everyone knows why he went down, right? It’s not like the elephant in the room. You can ask me what I think about it, why he went down, I think it was obvious. You can fake an injury in order to do an additional team talk.”
The Leeds manager accepted that City didn’t break any rules but warned that the rules needed changing for fair play.
“”It’s within the rules, it’s smart,” said Farke. “I asked the fourth official if he wanted to do something, he said, ‘No, our hands are tied, we can’t do anything’.
“I think it’s not something I personally like, but if it’s within the rules I can’t complain about it.
“There are tools you can use to make sure this doesn’t happen. There’s a reason why the goalkeeper goes down and not an outfield player. An outfield player would have to go off.”
However, Farke refused to criticise Guardiola directly for the incident.
“I don’t criticise my colleague,” Farke said. “It’s not that he [Guardiola] went down. If he has time to do that and if there’s an injury, I would do it.
“We have such a great relationship, and Pep is by far the best manager in the world. To tweak something in a game, there is nobody better. There’s not one per cent criticism of Pep.”
