Pep Guardiola's Trust Issues with VAR
Pep Guardiola has never hidden his distaste for VAR. This week, with the title race crackling and every decision poured over in slow motion, he stripped away any remaining doubt.
“I never trust anything since they (VAR) arrived a long time ago,” the Manchester City manager said. “Always I learned you have do it better, do it better, be in a position to do it better because you blame yourself with what you have to do, because [VAR] is a flip of a coin.”
No caveats. No softening. For Guardiola, the game is too important to be left to a booth in Stockley Park.
Arsenal’s break, City’s response
The latest flashpoint came at the London Stadium, where Arsenal clung to a 1-0 lead over West Ham and then watched the clock crawl into stoppage time. Callum Wilson thought he had grabbed a dramatic equaliser. The stadium erupted. The title race looked set for another twist.
Then the familiar pause.
VAR official Darren England called referee Chris Kavanagh to the monitor. Replays showed Pablo Felipe tangling with David Raya in the build-up. After a long check, the goal disappeared. Foul given. Arsenal survived.
That single decision left Mikel Arteta’s side five points clear at the top. City still have a game in hand, but the margins are now razor thin. The pressure, already intense, tightened another notch.
Guardiola, though, refused to pin anything on the officials or on Arsenal’s fortune. He simply pushed the spotlight back on his own dressing room.
“One is a job for the institutions that rule the competition,” he said, making it clear he has no intention of building his season on the hope that the system suddenly works in his favour.
Scars from Wembley
His mistrust is not theoretical. It is rooted in Wembley, in finals that slipped away with the help of decisions he still struggles to accept.
“We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR,” he insisted.
He went straight to specifics. In the 2024 FA Cup final against Manchester United, Guardiola watched Erling Haaland hit the deck under a challenge from Lisandro Martinez. No penalty. Later, he saw his striker grappled by Kobbie Mainoo at a corner as City chased the game. Again, nothing given. United won 2-1. The sense of injustice lingered.
Then came the 2025 final. Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson appeared to handle the ball outside his area. No red card, no free-kick, no intervention from VAR. Another major moment, another decision that, in Guardiola’s mind, underlined the volatility of the technology.
To him, these are not isolated calls. They form a pattern, a reminder that even with extra cameras and more angles, football’s biggest nights can still swing on human judgement.
Self-reliance over slow-motion replays
Guardiola’s answer is not a campaign against VAR. It is a demand that his players make it irrelevant.
“When this happens it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR,” he said. The message is ruthless: control what you can, live with what you cannot.
It is a philosophy he has carried from Barcelona to Bayern Munich and now to Manchester. “Always when I said to the players when I arrived here and Bayern Munich and Barcelona – do it, do it, do it better,” he explained. The repetition is deliberate. Drill it in. Do not look up at the screen. Look at your own performance.
“I always learned that when you lose the focus, you are in a dangerous situation. The only thing we can do is do it better, that is only in your control. You have to do better and better for yourself, and that is focusing on Crystal Palace for us.”
Eyes on Palace, then Wembley
Crystal Palace await on Wednesday night, a tricky assignment in their own right and a potential trap for a side with one eye on the table and the other on the replay monitor. After that, another FA Cup final, this time against Chelsea, and another chance for City to confront the stage that has brought them so much frustration in recent years.
Guardiola wants no excuses between now and then. No distractions. No lingering on Arsenal’s escape at West Ham or on missed calls in past finals.
For him, the equation is brutal but simple: if City are good enough, VAR becomes background noise. If they are not, slow-motion replays will only tell a story they could have rewritten themselves.
