MANCHESTER. — Pep Guardiola faces his first crisis at Manchester City after they lost at home to Chelsea, with two of his players sent off in a frenzied finish. Guardiola has apologised for the shameful scenes at The Etihad which saw Manchester City stars Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho sent off. Red cards were dished out to Aguero and as Manchester City lost their heads against the impressive English Premier League leaders.

“It’s a pity what happened at the end,” said Pep Guardiola as he made a half-hearted apology for the ugly scene in which Fernandinho grabbed Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas by the throat and pushed him over an advertising hoarding.

There was a melee of players after Aguero had seen red for a lunging, two-footed tackle on David Luiz. “I don’t think Aguero’s tackle was intentional,” said Guardiola. “But we accept the red card. I don’t criticise referees but I have to understand how things are in England. I have to adapt to English football.

“I also have to say that we didn’t lose because of the referee, we lost because we missed chances. “It’s a pity it finished like that and I apologise for what happened. We accept the red card.

“With Fernandinho, he went to defend a team-mate.” Aguero will now miss a title clash with Arsenal this month after a being sent off in Manchester City’s loss to Chelsea on Saturday. Aguero has already been sent off this season, meaning he will now get an automatic four-game ban.

That will rule him out of fixtures against Leicester, Arsenal, Watford and Hull. Guardiola clearly was not happy with the performance of referee Anthony Taylor, but added: “We didn’t win because of missed chances NOT the referee.

“I have to adapt to English football and understand it.” City are now four points off league leaders Chelsea following their loss. Chelsea’s centre-back Luiz, though, was more interested in talking about the plane crash which killed a number of Brazilian side Chapecoense’s team. — The Daily Express.

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