Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola declared it “a huge victory” for his side after Antoine Semenyo’s solitary goal clinched them a hard-fought 1-0 win at Leeds.
Semenyo struck his sixth goal in 11 appearances for City since joining from Bournemouth in January, clinically converting a rare chance for his side in first-half stoppage time to lift them to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Leeds, who remain six points above the relegation zone, were left to rue a string of missed early chances after a barnstorming start, while head coach Daniel Farke was sent off after the final whistle for remonstrating on the pitch with referee Peter Bankes.
Guardiola said: “They started really well. We expect it here at Elland Road.
“Leeds are always so intense, and after that, we did what I think we have been good at for the last decade, together through a million passes – to make the vibe of the crowd a little bit more calm.
“We let them run and run through our passes and when they became a bit more fatigued, OK, now we are going to pass the ball to try to score a goal and we found it in the first half.
“We had incredible focus in all departments. We didn’t create much, but we didn’t concede anything. It was a little bit more and more uncomfortable (in the closing stages), but we defended really well. It’s a huge victory for us.”
Play was temporarily halted by referee Bankes in the 11th minute to allow City’s Muslim players to break their Ramadan fast and the break was met by some boos from a section of home fans.
Guardiola added: “It’s the modern world, right? Respect the religion, respect the diversity. That is the point. The Premier League said ‘OK for the fasting, you can be one or two minutes’, so we did that for the players.”
Anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out posted on X: “It’s massively disappointing that some Leeds United fans booed when Manchester City’s players broke their fast during the first half of the match at Elland Road this evening. This was compounded by the fact that an explanation was displayed on a big screen inside the stadium.
“As tonight’s reaction shows, football still has a long way to go in terms of education and acceptance.”
Leeds suffered a rare defeat under the Elland Road floodlights – they had won five and drawn two of their previous seven night-time home kick-offs – and following his dismissal, Farke was replaced by assistant Eddie Riemer at the post-match press conference.
When asked about Farke’s red card, Riemer said the Leeds bench was dismayed that there was only six minutes of added time.
“Probably the explanation is going to be he (Farke) was over emotional, how he’s gone on the pitch, I would suggest,” Riemer said.
“He’s really disappointed to be sent off and would have wished for a more sensible action from the referee as well. Come on, give a yellow card. It’s an emotional game, and that’s it.”
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Brenden Aaronson both failed to convert big early chances for Leeds and Riemer added: “We’re really proud of the boys.
“An unbelievable shift once again, unbelievable performance. We created our chances, our moments, and we’re disappointed we didn’t score.
“When you’re playing one of the best teams in the world, you need to convert one of these chances, but we also restricted them to very few chances, considering it’s Man City.”
