Why is Pep Guardiola not on touchline for Man City vs Liverpool? | OneFootball

Former long-time Reds assistant Pep Lijnders will be lead man in dugout again for heavyweight FA Cup quarter-final clash

Manchester City and Liverpool kick off FA Cup quarter-final weekend with a blockbuster lunchtime showdown on Saturday.

City are on a high after bouncing back from their Champions League last-16 aggregate thrashing by Real Madrid with a dominant 2-0 victory over Premier League title rivals Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final as they claimed the first major silverware of the English domestic season.

They now take on a Liverpool side who went into the international break on another low note after a 2-1 loss at Brighton, their 10th league defeat of the campaign so far that left the defending champions sitting fifth, five points adrift of the top four with seven games remaining amid more questions over the future of manager Arne Slot.

Liverpool will be significantly boosted by the return from injury of the departing Mohamed Salah, with record signing Alexander Isak also potentially able to play a role off the bench after more than three months out with a broken leg. Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong are also both fit but Alisson Becker is expected to be sidelined until the latter stages of the season.

John Stones is a doubt for City after withdrawing from England duty with a calf injury, with defensive colleague Josko Gvardiol still unavailable.

City won both of this season’s league games against Liverpool, triumphing 3-0 at home back in November in Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th match as a manager before winning 2-1 at Anfield in February thanks to Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time penalty during a dramatic finish on Merseyside.

Why is Pep Guardiola not on touchline for Man City vs Liverpool?

City, last year’s beaten finalists, will not have Guardiola in the dugout on Saturday as they attempt to reach the FA Cup semi-finals for the eighth successive season against opponents who have not made the last four since winning the competition for the eighth time in 2022.

That is due to the Spaniard being handed a two-game touchline ban after receiving his sixth yellow card of the season during the 3-1 fifth-round win at Newcastle last month for his protestations to referee Sam Barrott following Kieran Trippier’s challenge on Jeremy Doku.

A one-match domestic ban is triggered by three yellow cards for managers, which is now doubled when they reach six. Guardiola missed City’s 10-1 demolition of Exeter in the third round in January after receiving his third caution against Brighton and also watched from the stands during a 1-1 league draw at West Ham in March.

However, the Carabao Cup final is among the events “exempt from any automatic touchline ban for the accumulation of cautions by technical area occupants”, according to official Football Association (FA) guidelines, meaning he was in the dugout against Arsenal a fortnight ago.

Guardiola - who joked that he would “go on holiday” during his latest suspension - will be back in his usual position for the top-flight trip to Chelsea next weekend, which is followed by a must-win crunch home showdown with Arsenal.

In his absence against Liverpool, assistant Pep Lijnders - who spent six years as Jurgen Klopp’s assistant at Anfield - will lead City’s coaching team on Saturday.