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Rodri has been fined £80,000 by a Football Association regulatory commission but escaped a sporting sanction for his comments criticising refereeing after Manchester City’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham in February.
The midfielder was unhappy that Dominic Solanke’s 70th-minute goal, after City had gone 2-0 up, was not disallowed. Solanke appeared to kick through the leg of Marc Guéhi, sending the ball off him and in.
After the game Rodri criticised the referee, Robert Jones. “I know we won too much and the people don’t want us to win, but the referee has to be neutral,” he said. “It’s not fair because we work so hard. When everything is finished, you are frustrated. It’s one game and another game and another game – and it’s not possible. Honestly, I never speak about referees, I respect their job massively. But they have to pay attention to these things. He kicked the leg, it’s so clear. It’s two, three games in a row and I don’t know why.”
Rodri, who admitted the charge of making comments that implied bias and/or questioned the integrity of a match official, submitted written evidence to try and explain them.
He said: “This is what I meant by, ‘but it’s not today, it’s two, three games in a row. And I don’t know why honestly’: we have experienced other occasions in our matches where I believe decisions have been incorrect. The bad foul by Diogo Dalot on [Jérémy] Doku at Manchester United [17 January] which should have been a red card, and [Antoine] Semenyo’s disallowed goal at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup [13 January]. I don’t have an explanation as to why the mistakes have happened.
“‘We won too much and the people, they don’t want us to win, but the referee has to be neutral’: supporters of other clubs who have witnessed our success will not want to see that continue. That thought process doesn’t apply to referees, who are professionally neutral in their roles. I did not say that referees are not neutral (as the media articles you have sent to me wrongly suggest). I meant that this can be ruled out as an explanation as to why referee mistakes have happened recently.
“‘And for me, honestly, it’s not fair, it’s not fair’: it doesn’t feel fair when the result is influenced by an incorrect decision rather than just the performance of the team.”
To try to ensure that the 29-year-old would not be banned, City submitted evidence citing three previous similar cases. These concerned Frank Lampard, when Everton manager in May 2022, the Fulham manager, Marco Silva, in January 2024, and Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager, the following month. All were fined and not suspended for their respective comments about officials after games.
In addition to the £80,000 fine Rodri was warned regarding his future conduct.
