Pep Guardiola Involved in Heated Confrontation With Newcastle Player

Pep Guardiola was involved in a heated altercation with a Newcastle player following the Magpies’ 2-1 win over Manchester City at St James’ Park.

Harvey Barnes’ brace dealt Manchester City a hammer blow in their pursuit of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, on the same day as reigning champions Liverpool lost at home to Nottingham Forest.

The Newcastle winger opened the scoring via an impressive strike which left Gianluigi Donnarumma no chance on 64 minutes before the away side hit back through Ruben Dias just four minutes later.

But the scores weren’t level for long as Barnes bundled home his second of the night on 70 minutes. There was some suspicion of offside, but the goal stood after a VAR review to hand the Magpies a much-needed victory after a stuttering start to their 2025/26 Premier League campaign.

According to some fans, even the graphic shared by the Premier League Match Centre via X appeared to show that a Newcastle player was offside at the back post.

But the post was accompanied by the caption: “The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with both Guimarães and Barnes in onside positions in the build-up. The VAR also checked and confirmed the referee's call of no foul on Donnarumma prior to the goal.”

After the match, Guardiola cut a frustrated figure and was quick to make his feelings known to the referee, Sam Barrott, as the Spaniard confronted the official on the pitch.

Newcastle midfielder Joelinton was also involved and appeared to offer out some choice words before being guided away by his Magpies colleagues.

His Brazilian counterpart, Bruno Guimaraes, also became embroiled in an altercation with the City boss as the pair spoke for a short while after the full-time whistle.

At one point, Guardiola tried to walk off before the midfielder appeared to pull him back, before uttering a few more words. Pep eventually walked away on the second attempt. The City head coach even appeared to confront the camera operator on the pitch.

In a post-match interview, Guardiola was asked what was said between him and Guimaraes, to which he replied: "I said how good he is (but that conversation) is for private situations. Everything is fine."

Then, when asked what he thought about the VAR decision for the Newcastle winner during an interview with Sky Sports, he added: "I didn't see it. I didn't see it."

However, he elaborated further in his post-match chat with BBC Match of the Day.

"It happened in the Bournemouth game and it happened today again," Guardiola claimed.

"It is what it is after VAR decided. They know perfectly."

Magpies assistant coach Jason Tindall also became embroiled in a brief but heated exchange with Donnarumma, while Joelinton also gestured and shouted towards the Italian.

The result leaves City third in the league, four points behind Arsenal who have played a game less while Newcastle jump to 14th.

City return to action against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on November 25 before Guardiola's side face Leeds in the Premier League at the Etihad on November 29.