Pep Guardiola will be on the touchline for Man City‘s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal in two weeks despite facing a two-game ban.
Guardiola collected his sixth yellow card of the campaign during City’s 3-1 win at Newcastle in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday evening.
It came after he lost his cool when he protested a pull from Kieran Trippier on City forward Jeremy Doku.
Guardiola squared up to fourth official Lewis Smith and ripped off his coat in anger, before he later had to be pulled back when he attempted to confront the officials at full-time.
It follows a pattern of City coaches and players complaining against perceived refereeing inconsistencies against them this season.
The Spaniard’s sixth caution means he now faces a two-game touchline ban, as per regulations introduced for this season.
Pep Guardiola is facing a two-game touchline ban but it won’t count for the Carabao Cup final
Guardiola was previously forced to watch City’s 10-1 win over Exeter in the FA Cup third round in January from the stands as a punishment for receiving three bookings.
However, the ban only applies to FA Cup and Premier League games, and not European matches or domestic cup finals.
This means the suspension won’t be in place for City’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal on March 22.
Instead, Guardiola will have to watch from the stands for City’s next league game against West Ham on Saturday, before he will also miss their FA Cup quarter-final clash which will take place on the weekend of April 4/5.
The draw for that round will take place on Monday evening.
When speaking about his furious reaction during the game, Guardiola said: ‘When Jeremy Doku dribbles Trippier and goes alone to the box and is being pulled from behind, I’m not asking for a yellow card but it’s a foul. I will defend my team.
‘I will tell you something – we have all the records in this country, all of them, despite everything. We have the record of the manager with the most yellow cards. I want all records and now I have it.’
He also furiously joked that he would now ‘go on holiday’ as a result of his new suspension.
‘Two-game ban now and I will go on holidays the next two games,’ he added. ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. There are things after 10 years I cannot understand. Review the action.
‘Of course I’m going to defend Doku and all my teams. They continue to do it.’
Guardiola’s assistant Kolo Toure was also booked during the match at St James’ Park.
If Guardiola picks up nine yellow cards this season, he will receive a three-match touchline ban, while 12 cautions would lead to an FA misconduct charge.
