Marc Guehi's Controversial Challenge Sparks Fury in Porto
Marc Guehi walked away without a card. Porto walked away furious.
On a spiky Champions League night in Portugal, the Manchester City defender found himself at the centre of a storm after a brutal aerial clash left Porto midfielder Gabri Veiga bloodied and fans raging over a decision that never came.
The flashpoint
Midway through the first half, with the ball hung in the air and both players attacking it, Guehi rose to win the header. His elbow swung out and crashed into Veiga, who crumpled to the turf. The Porto midfielder came off second best by some distance, left lying on the grass, face bloodied, treatment team rushing on.
Referee Szymon Marciniak blew for the stoppage but kept his cards in his pocket. No yellow. No red. No punishment at all for the 26-year-old England international.
That was the moment the temperature in the stadium changed.
“Got away with murder”
The reaction was instant and vicious online. Supporters watching around Europe did not hold back.
“Marc Guehi absolutely clattered Gabri Veiga,” one fan wrote. Another went stronger: “Guehi has gotten away with murder there.” A third piled in with the same theme: “Guehi getting away with murder. Never change Uefa.”
Others focused on the danger of the challenge rather than the drama of the language. “Guehi is lucky there. That is a dangerous challenge,” came one verdict. “How is Guehi not getting a red card for this rash tackle?” asked another.
On the pitch, Veiga eventually got to his feet after a couple of minutes of treatment and was able to continue, but the sense of injustice lingered.
Tempers boil over
By half-time, the incident had become more than just a refereeing debate. It had turned into a running feud.
As the whistle went and players headed towards the tunnel, City and Porto staff and players clashed, the argument spilling from the pitch into the narrow space beneath the stands. Pushing, shoving, finger-pointing – the bad blood from the Guehi–Veiga collision had clearly not cooled.
Security staff from both clubs were forced to step in to split the groups as the confrontation grew more heated at the mouth of the tunnel. Reports from inside the ground even claimed the tunnel structure itself was “shaking” during the ruckus, such was the intensity of the confrontation.
Amazon Prime reporter Gabriel Clarke, watching it unfold, linked it directly to the first-half flashpoint. He described “anger triggered by the Veiga-Guehi incident” and said the “pushing and the shoving, the bad-tempered behaviour” carried on as the players disappeared from view.
Nevin backs Guehi – with a warning
Not everyone was calling for a red. Former Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin offered a defence of Guehi’s actions, while still acknowledging the risk in the challenge.
Speaking on the BBC, Nevin argued that a defender attacking a high ball has limited options with his body shape.
“Where do you put your arm?” he asked. “If you’re going for the header and someone is lower you can’t make your arm disappear.”
He accepted there was one case against the City centre-back. “They could only make one argument that Marc Guehi is reckless,” Nevin said, before adding that, in his view, “this referee has got everything spot on so far.”
That will not wash in Porto. Not after blood on the pitch, a tunnel shaking with anger, and a decision that split the night in two.
