Prickly Pep: This may be my last job

PEP GUARDIOLA last night confirmed that Manchester City could be one of his last jobs in football as he left the Etihad with a clear sense of injustice despite their win against Burnley. Midfielder Fernandinho faces a four-match ban after he was sent off for the third time in six weeks. City still won 2-1 but a tetchy Guardiola was more concerned about the challenge on his goalkeeper Claudio Bravo in the buildup to Burnley’s goal. The former Barcelona coach was also asked about his comments in an interview over the weekend when he said ‘I feel that the process of my goodbye has already started. I will be at Manchester for the next three seasons, maybe more, but I am arriving at the end of my coaching career, of this I am sure.’ Asked last night why he would retire, Guardiola (below) replied: ‘Because I decide so. (City) might be one of my last teams.’ The Spaniard was in no mood to chat despite seeing City return to the top three with a hard-fought win after playing with 10 men for nearly an hour. Fernandinho saw red for a two-footed challenge on Johann Berg Gudmundsson. It was City’s seventh red card of the season and sixth in the Premier League — twice as many as any other top-flight club. But in a series of awkward interviews Guardiola could barely conceal his anger that referee Lee Mason did not award a foul for Sam Vokes’s challenge on Bravo before Ben Mee fired Burnley back into the game. ‘I didn’t see it,’ he said of the Fernandinho tackle. ‘But I saw the fault (foul) on Claudio Bravo, that was definite. We are going to accept the three or four games (ban for Fernandinho) but remember it was a fault (foul on Bravo). ‘It is always our fault, it’s always City’s fault. Yeah, yeah. I saw other games. ‘All around the world, the Burnley goal on Claudio Bravo is a fault. ‘Here, and all around the world, the rules say the goalkeeper in the six-yard box cannot be touched. ‘OK, so I have to adapt and I have to understand there are special rules here in England. Now I learn. ‘We had a lot of disciplinary problems. Now we accept what the FA decide. ‘Like I said before, the team with more ball possession will always have more sendings-off — I have to understand the rules in England. I know you are special but I have to understand it. ‘We try to play football, don’t forget it. My teams always in my career try to play football. I cannot control the other circumstances. ‘We won against a lot of circumstances and after a tough game, so we are happy for that.’ Burnley manager Sean Dyche, who now has Joey Barton available for selection after the club confirmed his re-signing yesterday, was not surprised to see Fernandinho sent off. ‘Many years ago when I played that would probably have been a yellow card but nowadays they talk about the scissor movement and coming off the ground,’ said Dyche. ‘It’s not terrible but it’s a sending-off by modern standards.’ He claimed Bacary Sagna should also have seen red for lashing out at George Boyd after Burnley’s goal. Sagna was booked but Dyche said: ‘It’s a sendingoff because he swipes out at Boydy. I don’t think the linesman saw enough of it to realise it was an actual kick out. ‘Our lads, as they do, try to get on with it. We know that probably wouldn’t have happened if it was certain other players.’