Daniel Farke was very unhappy at the time of the incident
Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter
18:41, 29 Nov 2025
Gianluigi Donnarumma of Manchester City receives medical treatment during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Leeds United at Etihad Stadium
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Gianluigi Donnarumma receives treatment during Manchester City's win over Leeds United
Daniel Farke believes Gianluigi Donnarumma faked injury to essentially buy his team a time out when Leeds United were on top during the second half of Saturday’s 3-2 defeat.
The Manchester City goalkeeper went down for treatment on 58 minutes with the hosts under sustained pressure, prompting Ruben Dias to beckon over his team for a touchline huddle. Farke was seen mightily unimpressed with this and held court with the fourth official.
Asked about this after full time, Farke said: “Everyone knows why he went down, right? So it's not like the elephant in the room. So you can ask me what I think about it, or whatever, but why he went down? I think it was obvious.”
Pressed further about it, he added: “If I like it in the sense of fair play… I keep it to myself and leave it to the authorities to find a solution.
“I asked the fourth official. He said our hands are tied. If we don't educate our players in football what to do in terms of fair play, sportsmanship or whatever and bend rules to your advantage and do a fake injury in order to do an additional team talk… it’s nothing that I personally like.
“Maybe we have to change the rules a little bit. Not a question for myself. I don't criticise my colleague, Pep. It was the player. I would do the same if my player did have an injury. I think there are tools to deal with it.
“I'm not the chief of the referees. Maybe when I'm 85 maybe I can do that. It's within the rules, it's smart. But I think there should be a change.”
On his team’s second-half performance itself, he added: “We played one of the best sides in the UK and one of the best sides in the world. If you concede so soon, of course, it does something with the lads.
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“We changed at half-time in pressing and passing angles in our game. We fully deserved to equalise.
"Both teams could have won it. They [Leeds players] should take lots of pride and confidence.
“Deserved to take something out of this game. We are disappointed because we wanted to win three points, but after so many sucker punches - to show such a performance should give us lots of belief.”