Liverpool seemed to get away with not conceding a penalty early doors during Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola venting his frustrations in the stands
14:05, 04 Apr 2026Updated 14:14, 04 Apr 2026
Rayan Cherki was brought down by Milos Kerkez(Image: PA)
Pep Guardiola threw his arms up in disbelief when Manchester City were denied what could have been a crucial penalty against Liverpool in the FA Cup on Saturday. The Spanish manager was forced to watch from the stands as his side hosted the Reds, due to a two-match touchline ban.
Guardiola has accumulated six yellow cards in domestic competitions this season, and consequently, was compelled to watch from the wings at the Etihad Stadium for their early kick-off against Arne Slot’s visitors. However, that ultimately provided him with quite the viewing position for the quarter-final encounter.
TNT Sports cameras were quick to cut to the 55-year-old when Rayan Cherki was brought down in the opposition box 18 minutes into the match, moving the ball swiftly as Milos Kerkez appeared to bring him to ground. However, Michael Oliver’s on-field decision was not to award a penalty, as VAR quickly checked and cleared the passage of play in the background.
As cameras glanced over toward Guardiola, he was seen throwing his arms up in the air in frustration with a look of shock across his face, feeling aggrieved that his team were not given the opportunity to break the deadlock from the penalty spot. However, Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist were quick to share their views on whether it should have been a penalty in City’s favour on commentary duty for TNT Sports.
Fletcher explained: “It’s been checked and cleared. Mark Howard the VAR had a look and he’s not interested in any of it. But there is contact in there.”
McCoist then replied: “I’m leaning towards the decision being the correct one,” before Fletcher asked: “Do you think he’s seen that maybe the contact was initiated by Cherki?”
McCoist then said: “Yes is the answer to your question. I think he maybe drags his left leg into the challenge. I think he could played it wide to [Antoine] Semenyo.”
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Guardiola may have felt that fortune had evened itself out later in the first-half when City were handed a spot kick from a separate incident. With roughly 10 minutes remaining until the break, Nico O’Reilly was fouled by Virgil van Dijk in an ungainly challenge from behind, with Oliver immediately blowing his whistle for a foul.
Erling Haaland duly stepped up and dispatched the opportunity, rolling it to Giorgi Mamardashvili’s left before racing off in celebration towards the corner of the Etihad. Matters then went from bad to worse for Liverpool two minutes into extra time.
Cherki advanced down the right wing before threading the ball through to Semenyo in the box, with the Ghanaian then chipping it into the centre of the area where Haaland beat Ibrahima Konate to the punch with a towering header to make it 2-0.
Pep Guardiola was astounded by Michael Oliver’s decision(Image: TNT Sports)
Semenyo then found the score sheet moments into the second-half, when Joe Gomez’s throw from inside his own territory landed at the feet of Marc Guehi.
The centre-half then shifted it to Cherki, who passed it onto O’Reilly and through to Semenyo. The forward then lifted it around Mamardashvili with a cute chip to make it 3-0 to the hosts.
Haaland then managed his hat-trick for the afternoon with around 35 minutes left to play, receiving a cut-back from O’Reilly in Liverpool’s area before posting home. Mohamed Salah had the chance to pull one back with a penalty of his own around 10 minutes later when Hugo Ekitike was brought down by Matheus Nunes, only for James Trafford to save his shot from point-blank range.