English champions Manchester City have been charged by the Football Association (FA) on Monday with failing to control their players in the 3-3 Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur at home. (Football News)
Towards the end of their thrilling six-goal fest at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, City players confronted the referee, Simon Hooper, who apparently denied the hosts an important advantage.
The controversial call came in the fifth minute of stoppage time following a foul on Erling Haaland by Yves Bissouma. The Manchester City striker, despite being at the receiving end of the tackle, got up and took control of the ball even as the referee seemingly allowed the advantage.
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Haaland then released the ball for Jack Grealish, who found himself one-on-one with the approaching Spurs goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario. But Hooper called the play back for the foul which left City players fuming. In that chaotic finish, Haaland was seen screaming at Hooper.
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The Norwegian forward continued his protests after the game and replied to a clip of the incident on X (formerly Twitter), with the comment "Wtf".
An FA statement said Pep Guardiola's team "failed to ensure their players do not behave in a way which is improper." Manchester City have until Thursday (December 7) to respond to the charge. In February, City were fined 75,000 pounds for failing to control their players during their league win over Arsenal.
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FA Rule E20.1 mandates that a club must ensure their players do not “behave in a way which is improper, offensive, violent, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting or provocative”.
City's star striker Haaland, however, will not be subject to personal charges for his behaviour, nor for the social media post that he shared immediately after the match.
Manchester City thought they had won the match nine minutes from time when Grealish slotted home from Haaland's cross for his first goal since April. But a header from Dejan Kulusevski in the 90th minute denied City the win in front of a packed Etihad Stadium crowd.
This is the third Premier League game in succession that City have drawn, having also been held by Liverpool and Chelsea. The holders are now third in the points table, behind Arsenal and Liverpool, after round 14.
