Pep Guardiola leapt to the defence of Rico Lewis after the Manchester City defender’s “unnecessary” sending-off in their Club World Cup opener on Wednesday.
Lewis was dismissed two minutes from the end of an otherwise satisfactory 2-0 victory over Wydad Casablanca in humid conditions in Philadelphia.
The England international won the ball when he slid into a challenge with Samuel Obeng, but caught his opponent in the face in his follow through.
City manager Guardiola was angered by the Brazilian referee Ramon Abatti’s decision and later spoke to the official.
Guardiola said: “He thought the leg was a little bit high, but he was on the grass. He touched the ball.
“For the speed they go to touch the ball – for the Newton’s theory your leg has to be a little bit higher and the other player was down. Rico had no intention.
“Rico is the person who never has intention to hurt anyone for his style of play.
“It was unnecessary, honestly, the red card, but the referee had a different opinion and he’s the boss. They checked VAR, so we accept it.”
The Lewis incident took the gloss off an otherwise professional performance in the Group G opener, won with goals from Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku at the beginning and end of the first half.
Guardiola said: “It’s so hot. It’s not easy, for all the teams. We had good moments with many new players.
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“The first game in the group stage is always really, really important. We started really well. After we had some problems, especially when we lost some simple balls but I saw many good things.
“It was the first game, now we prepare for the next one. Everybody will have to improve because it’s so demanding, and it’s going to happen.”
Guardiola handed debuts to new signings Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki but it was Foden who proved their inspiration, pouncing on a rebound for the opener on two minutes and then setting up Doku’s second.
Foden endured an underwhelming 2024-25 campaign, but was recently stood down from England duty to refresh for the tournament.
Guardiola said: “He was really good. It was a good delivery for the second and the first, always he is there.
“We are pretty pleased and he was playing a position where he has to defend too as a holding midfielder.”
City will now return to their training base in Miami before travelling to Atlanta for their next game against Al Ain of Abu Dhabi on Sunday (Monday morning UK time).
