Pep Guardiola shocked everyone with his 'forced kiss' on the referee

Coach Pep Guardiola's actions surprised many people in the match against Arsenal on the night of September 21.

Pep Guardiola suddenly kissed fourth referee Craig Pawson - Screenshot

In this match, Pep Guardiola's Man City took an early lead, with Haaland's acceleration and goal in the 9th minute. After that, they let Arsenal pressure them but it wasn't until the 90+3 minute that they conceded a goal after a classy lob from Martinelli.

In the final minutes of the match, television cameras captured a strange moment in which Pep Guardiola was having a conversation with fourth official Craig Pawson on the sidelines.

It was a normal exchange, until the Man City coach suddenly… pulled the referee back to kiss him on the cheek. Mr. Craig Pawson stepped back, seemingly both to avoid and to return to his duties.

The action was quick and full of surprises. Remarkably, just a few minutes later, Arsenal scored an equalizer to make the match end in a 1-1 draw.

This is an acceptable result for both teams. But the strange actions of coach Pep Guardiola have left many doubts.

One user left a comment on the X platform: "I had to rub my eyes several times. Is that Pep Guardiola trying to kiss the referee?"

Another person also commented: "Pep is too friendly with referees. Is that the reason why Man City has benefited many times over the years?"

But with this new match, Pep Guardiola is actually on a streak of 5 consecutive matches without being able to win against his former assistant Mikel Arteta. This is also the match where the Spanish strategist set a sad record when Man City only had 32.8% possession.

According to Opta , this is the low possession rate of the teams that Pep leads when competing in national championships. He is always famous for requiring players to overwhelm opponents, not allowing the opponent to have the ball to play.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/pep-guardiola-gay-sung-sot-voi-man-cuong-hon-trong-tai-20250922060428998.htm