Pep Guardiola admitted that he did not agree with Manchester City appealing Kyle Walker's Champions League suspension because he remains "so angry" with him for getting suspended in the first place.
Walker was shown a straight red card for kicking RB Leipzig striker Andre Silva during City's 2-1 defeat at Red Bull Arena in the Champions League group stage on December 7.
The 31-year-old's automatic one-game ban was upgraded to three after UEFA's control, ethics and disciplinary body deemed the foul an "assault," and City subsequently asked for the length of the suspension to be re-assessed.
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However, not everyone at Man City believed that was an appropriate course of action.
What did Guardiola say about Walker?
The Appeals Body ultimately rejected the club's request and Guardiola was content for the initial decision to stand, with it his belief that Walker had been "stupid" to lunge in on Silva.
Speaking at his press conference ahead of City's Round of 16 second-leg match against Sporting CP, Guardiola said, "He deserved it, he deserved the three, he did a stupid thing. I’m not kind to Kyle for this kind of action. I’m still so angry with him. He knows it – it's not necessary.
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"The club appealed but I did not agree, hopefully he learned. I said right after the game he deserved it."
PEP 💬 I said after the first leg, the 5-0 was not the reality or the difference between our teams. But we found the goals quick, four shots on target four goals. Sometimes that happens...When the result is good, it looks easy. I have a lot of respect for the job they are doing.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 8, 2022
Man City facing squad availability crisis
Walker will be serving the second game of his ban when Sporting arrive at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, but Guardiola says he won't be the only notable absentee.
The Spanish head coach insists that he only has 14 players to choose from at the moment with Joao Cancelo set to miss out due to illness as City seek to preserve the 5-0 aggregate lead and reach the tournament's last eight.
"We don’t have many players, just 14 available, a few problems, Kyle suspended, and Joao is sick," said Guardiola.
"Of course we had an incredible result in the first leg, football is unpredictable, red cards, quality of opponent, we’ll take a top side [to play the game] as much as possible. [There's] not many alternatives but will do the best team possible to win the game."
PEP 💬 We don't have many, many players - we have just 14 available, we have a few problems - suspension for Kyle, Joao can’t play. Of course, we got an incredible result in the first leg and it’s 5-0 but nothing is done, football is unpredictable.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 8, 2022
