Ilkay Gundogan said Pep Guardiola went “mad” at both him and Erling Haaland after the German took and missed a penalty in Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Leeds.
Guardiola wanted 51-goal Haaland, who is his first-choice penalty taker, to put his side 3-0 up but the Norwegian allowed Gundogan, who had already scored twice, to try and get a hat-trick.
Instead he hit the post and Leeds substitute Rodrigo then scored to give City a nervous end to a previously comfortable game.
And Guardiola criticised both Haaland and Gundogan as they came off the pitch with the City captain saying: “First he showed to Erling that he was quite mad about that and then also he had a go at me. It is what it is at the end.
“The moment Erling grabbed the ball, I was sure he was going to take it but he looked out for me. I checked with him a few times to make sure he was sure. He was certain to hand the ball to me. I was confident to score.”
And Guardiola added: “The game is not over. It shows how nice and generous Erling is. If it is 4-0 with 10 minutes left, OK. But at 2-0? Erling is the best penalty taker right now so he has to take it.”
The City manager also said he would rather that Riyad Mahrez had taken the spot kick than Gundogan, adding: “I admire the fact Gundo wants to take responsibility to take a penalty but normally the taker is the taker and Erling has to take it.”
Victory moved City closer to a third successive Premier League title and Guardiola added: “We played an exceptional game. Our possession game was really good. First half was exceptional. We were maybe not as clinical as we should be.”
City will assess defender Nathan Ake, who came off in the second half with an injury, ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Real Madrid.
