Donnarumma is expected to start again when City travel to Fulham in the league on Tuesday. The 26-year-old has made headlines before the match after being accused of feigning injury to “bend the rules” by Leeds boss Farke following Saturday’s meeting between the two teams.
After Leeds fought back from a two-goal deficit to draw level with City thanks to efforts from Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha, Donnarumma went down to receive treatment in a two-minute spell which allowed manager Guardiola to call his players to the touchline and issue fresh instructions. City went on to win the game 3-2 when Phil Foden scored his second goal of the game in stoppage time.
“Everyone knows why he [Donnarumma] went down,” said Farke. “It is not the elephant in the room. Why he went down it was obvious. It is within the rules. It is smart. If I like it? If it’s within the sense of fair play? If it should be like this I will keep to myself. It is up to the authorities to find a solution. I ask the fourth official at this point if you want to do something. Our hands are tied.
“If we don’t educate our players in football what to do in terms of fair play and sportsmanship and whatever and if we just try to bend the rules and even do a fake injury in order to do an additional team talk, it is not what I like personally. But if it is within the rules I can’t complain.”
