Leeds coach accuses Man City of gamesmanship with Donnarumma injury break

By Canadian Press on November 29, 2025.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Leeds manager Daniel Farke accused Manchester City of bending the rules before rallying to snatch victory in their Premier League game on Saturday.

Leeds reduced its deficit from 2-0 to 2-1 and was on top when City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma fell to the ground and called for the physios. City manager Pep Guardiola immediately gathered his players around him on the sideline as he sought to adjust to Leeds’ change of shape at halftime.

Guardiola’s team talk did not stop Leeds equalizing soon after, when Lukas Nmecha scored the rebound from his saved penalty, but City grabbed a 3-2 win when Phil Foden struck in stoppage time.

Farke felt there was a shift in the game after Donnarumma received attention.

“It is within the rules,” the German said. “It is smart. If I like it, if it is in the sense of fair play, if it should be like this, I keep it to myself and I leave it to the authorities to find solutions for it. It is within the rules. I asked the fourth official at this point if you want to do something and he said, ‘No, our hands are tied, we can’t do anything.’

“If we don’t educate our players in football, what to do in terms of fair play, sportsmanship, if you just try to bend the rules to your advantage and you can do a fake injury in order to do an additional team talk, it is nothing I personally like but if it is within the rules, I can’t complain about it.”

Guardiola said he had believed Donnarumma’s injury was genuine, instructing backup goalkeeper James Trafford to warm up in case he was required.

“I didn’t speak with Gigio,” Guardiola said. “When it happened, I looked back to the dugout and said, ‘James, warm up.’ I don’t know. Next press conference you can ask me and I will ask Gigio.”

Foden said City “started playing again” after Guardiola’s team talk.

“They changed it around in the second half, changed the system and we couldn’t seem to get going,” Foden said of Leeds.

“It was a frustrating half but when we had a short break, the manager got us together to adapt to their formation and we started playing again. We put on the pressure and I finally managed to find a bit of space and get my shot off and find the bottom of the net. Really happy with it but there are still things we can improve.”

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The Associated Press