Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will escape punishment from the FA following his theatrics at Anfield on Sunday.Â
Guardiola was seen to remonstrate with officials during the 3-1 Premier League defeat to Liverpool, and afterwards sarcastically thanked the team of officials led by referee Mike Oliver.
Speaking after the defeat, which leaves City 9-points off Liverpool in the Premier League title race, Guardiola insisted his 'thank you' was not in fact laced with sarcasm, "It was not sarcastic, I say thank you so much all the time.
"I said the same at the Tottenham game at home. All the time I go to referees I say thank you so much."
"Thank you so much..." 🤔
📺 Watch full reaction live on Sky Sports PL pic.twitter.com/CTECmWAoHB— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 10, 2019
In 2014, Jose Mourinho picked up a £10,000 fine from a disciplinary commission when, as Chelsea manager, he snidely called the officials team in a defeat to Aston Villa "unbelievable" and "fantastic".
Guardiola will find his pocket unburdened.
The root of Guardiola's hissy-fits was a pair of handball decisions not given against Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The first incident came immediately before Fabinho opened the scoring at Anfield, while the second came with the score at 3-1 and a penalty then could have swung momentum firmly in City's direction.
Repeatedly during his press conference, Guardiola replied "ask Mike Riley", when pressed about controversial refereeing decisions.
The Spaniard was told Riley is not available for public interviews, to which he snapped, "That's the point!"
"I’m not here to talk about the decisions of the referees or VAR. Don’t ask me, ask them," he added.
Ilkay Gundogan backed his manager's assertion that City were hard-done-by, "Obviously as a City player it feels like a disadvantage for us.
"I saw the incident again in the dressing room afterwards and for me, obviously, it’s a penalty.
"But if you ask a Liverpool player they would say, ‘You can give it, but it’s maybe a 50-50 situation’."
