Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, revealed that Rodrigo extended his apologies to his teammates following his red card during Saturday’s clash against Nottingham Forest.
In the English Premier League match held at Etihad Stadium, City triumphed 2-0 over Steve Cooper’s side, but the Spanish international was shown a red card after an altercation with Morgan Gibbs-White.
As a result, City played with 10 players for the rest of the match, prompting Guardiola to call upon Kalvin Phillips to assume a central midfield role.
City exhibited dominance in the first half, as both Phil Foden and Erling Haaland found the back of the net to secure our lead.
The team managed to hold off the opposition in the second half, limiting them to just three shots on target, ultimately securing our sixth consecutive victory in this season’s Premier League.
Asked about Rodrigo’s response in the dressing room after the game, Guardiola said the Spaniard was contrite.
“He has done it. He has apologised. [He said] Sorry,” he said. “Rodri has to control his emotions. I can get a yellow card but Rodri cannot get a red.
“I don’t play, the players in the pitch have to control their emotions.”
The Etihad crowd got behind 10-man City in the second half to help see us over the line for our 300th Premier League home win.
Guardiola believes that atmosphere was crucial as his players worked tirelessly to keep Forest out.
“You can lie to one person but not almost 60,000 people,” he said. “It’s impossible. They see we are not lazy, they see we do everything to defend a result from the difficulties we had in the second half.
“The spectators are involved in that and that’s why they can give more energy when they are tired.”