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Pep Guardiola Unleashes Incredible VAR Tirade on Five Incidents Across Eight Months

Antoine Semenyo’s disallowed goal against Newcastle was a huge Tuesday talking point.
Grey Whitebloom|
Pep Guardiola was not impressed with the officiating on Tuesday.
Pep Guardiola was not impressed with the officiating on Tuesday. | Sky Sports

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola unleashed his long-held frustrations with VAR after they reached a peak in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semifinal victory over Newcastle United.

The Catalan coach saw his new signing Antoine Semenyo denied a second goal at St James’ Park after a four-minute VAR review discovered Erling Haaland to be in a fractionally offside position and interfering with play. The January recruit, who had opened the scoring 10 minutes earlier, agreed with his manager: “The second goal should have stood.”

Rayan Cherki would belatedly establish a 2–0 lead for the visitors to take into the second leg of the tie at the Etihad Stadium next month, giving Guardiola the platform of victory to voice his boiling fury.

“We know how it works and that will make us stronger,” the City boss seethed to Sky Sports. “I’ve said it many times to the team, it is always about that. It’s in that situation how we react and how we compete.”

Intriguingly, Guardiola’s six-minute rant—even longer than any VAR review—did not dwell solely on Semenyo’s goal. No, these feelings of perceived injustice stretch all the way back to last season’s FA Cup final.

Semenyo’s Disallowed Goal—Jan. 14, 2026

Semenyo extricated himself from a crowd of players at a second-half corner for City on Tuesday night, ingeniously contorting his body to flick a heel at the ball which sailed into the net. The goal was given by the on-pitch officials, but VAR Stuart Attwell eventually determined that Haaland had narrowly strayed offside. It was a marginal distance, but not one uncommon in the age of semi-automated technology.

The decision to disallow the goal had to go through referee Chris Kavanagh as Haaland hadn’t touched the ball. However, a pitch-side review of the incident led the official to judge that City’s striker had been actively interfering in play by preventing Malick Thiaw from clearing Semenyo’s acrobatic effort off the line.

“Four officials and VAR were not able to take the decision, they had to go to the referee,” Guardiola fumed, later adding with more than a hint of sarcasm: “Today, the line was perfect. Millimetres.”

Two ‘Insane’ Penalty Appeals—Nov. 22, 2025

This VAR intervention prompted Guardiola to feverishly reminisce about City’s previous trip to Tyneside this season. In the words of the raging coach, the visitors had “two insane penalties” overlooked by the referees while the game was still goalless. Newcastle would go on to claim a 2–1 win.

“In the league game here, 60 minutes and 20 minutes, take a look,” Guardiola pointed out, entirely unprompted. “I don’t understand why in the Premier League game with [Fabian] Schär on Phil [Foden] why VAR didn’t say anything. Then the penalty with [Jérémy] Doku and Thiaw.”

Schär caught Foden with a late lunge in the first half of City’s previous clash with Newcastle back in November. The England international had already gotten his shot away, which may very well have prompted the officials to look leniently upon the hefty contact dolled out by the Magpies centre back. BBC Sport have subsequently reported that an independent panel of official VAR judges deemed this to be one of 13 errors across the first half of the Premier League season.

The second offence flagged by Guardiola didn’t fall into that same category, with the panel accepting the decision to overlook the appeals for handball when Thiaw blocked Doku’s close-range shot with his arm.

“Look back at my press conference. I didn’t say anything after that game. But here, VAR intervenes but not for two unbelievable penalties,” Guardiola moaned. “I said it today because we won. Tell me if I said anything after the game we lost. In 10 years here, I know what happens.”

Dean Henderson Handball—May 17, 2025

Dean Henderson (centre) handling the ball outside his box.
Dean Henderson (centre) got away with one in the FA Cup final. | Tom Jenkins/Getty Images

Guardiola was asked what was behind these supposed failings. “Ask them,” he shrugged. “Who is the boss of the referees? Ask him [Howard Webb]. It’s the semifinals. We play for a lot to reach the finals. It will make us stronger.

“Did you review the FA Cup final last season?” Guardiola continued, the talk of showpiece fixtures drawing a connection in his mind palace of VAR mistakes. “When [Dean] Henderson touched the ball outside the box. Did I say anything?”

The City boss was referring to the hotly controversial decision to overlook an incident in last May’s FA Cup final which saw the Crystal Palace goalkeeper appear to claw the ball away from Haaland while outside his penalty area.

The on-pitch officials mistakenly thought that Henderson was within the confines of his box. VAR Jarred Gillett saw that he wasn’t but deemed that the ball was going away from goal, thereby dictating that Haaland had not been denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, sparing Henderson a red card. ITV pundit Ian Wright ignored his allegiances to Palace when describing the decision as “absolutely pathetic.”

Henderson remained on the pitch to save Omar Marmoush’s first-half penalty and oversee a famous 1–0 win. Guardiola did not take issue with the incident in his press conference—“It’s not my business” was all he would offer—but he could be seen remonstrating with the goalkeeper on the Wembley pitch after the final whistle.

“The big clubs overcome these situations,” Guardiola concluded from within the bowels of St James’ Park, a 2–0 aggregate lead in his back pocket and some frustrations off his chest. “It’s part of the game, we have to do it better. We know it is going to happen so we have to do it better.”

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Grey Whitebloom
GREY WHITEBLOOM

Grey Whitebloom is a writer, reporter and editor for Sports Illustrated FC. Born and raised in London, he is an avid follower of German, Italian and Spanish top flight football.

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