“Other defenders with prestige” – Pep Guardiola hints at unfair referee treatment for Manchester City’s Abdukodir Khusanov | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has hinted at potential unfair treatment towards Abdukodir Khusanov from referees over his aggression in defensive actions.

The Uzbekistan international has enjoyed an encouraging start to life at the Etihad Stadium having joined the club from RC Lens during the January transfer window in a deal understood to have been worth around €40 million.

Having been handed his Manchester City debut at almost the first opportunity, Khusanov suffered a difficult opening 10 minutes against Chelsea in which he handed out an error leading to a goal and picked up a yellow card for a late challenge.

However, his performances since then in the FA Cup against Leyton Orient and particularly when faced with the likes of Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak of Newcastle have given City fans plenty to be excited about.

But the latter performance did highlight an issue in English football when it comes to Khusanov’s approach to defensive actions, with his aggressive should-to-shoulder movements often leaving him unfairly on the receiving end of punishment from referees.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Abdukodir Khusanov’s performance against Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, but did hint towards unfair treatment on the Uzbek when it comes to his style of defending.

“He was whistled two or three times, he’s so aggressive in the one-against-one. But apparently it’s just a foul from him, and other central defenders with prestige it would not be a foul,” Guardiola told reporters.

“It was not easy that he arrived in the first day against Chelsea, what happened in the (first) minutes, it’s not easy from Uzbekistan or France to come here and since then he didn’t play. And he played again for the circumstances of Ruben (Dias), Manu Akanji, and Nathan (Ake) and so on, and it’s really good for him, for all of us, the potential that we visualise he can have.”

Pep Guardiola continued, “His composure with the ball, and he’s so extremely fast, the backwards when he has to run with (Alexander) Isak he can handle it, he’s so fast. The decision making has to improve but it’s a question of age.

“But the most important is that he settled really, really well; he’s so shy, doesn’t talk much, and he’s so like this and I think he will help us a lot.”

“He settled really good with the team and the same – like Nico (Gonzalez) – they are so young, like Vitor (Reis), and for the next years we have a player that Manchester City can develop and perform well.”

It remains to be seen whether the bright performance and clean sheet of Khusanov will have earned him a start for Manchester City in the Champions League this week, as the English champions look to overturn a 3-2 deficit against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Pep Guardiola is without his preferred right-back from the first-leg in Manuel Akanji, likely leaving him with a choice of Abdukodir Khusanov, Rico Lewis, Matheus Nunes, or John Stones for the right-sided full-back role in the Spanish capital.