Leeds United v Sunderland: Daniel Farke still raging about red card
"Actually I was concentrating on the Sunderland game," were the first words Daniel Farke said once the cameras were rolling on his pre-match press conference.
If he was reluctant to talk about his red card at the end of Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Manchester City, he did not sound it as he reeled off an 11-minute answer explaining why he felt hard done-by, what his grouse with referee Peter Bankes was, and why he expects to be in the dugout for Tuesday's Premier League game.
The match between two promoted teams who have exceeded expectations and bucked recent history has the makings of a cracker under the Elland Road lights, but even it could not compete for attention with an uncharacteristic moment of anger from the Leeds manager.
It takes a lot for Farke to hit boiling point – he said it was the first red card of a long managerial career – but on the back of a string of decisions he felt went against his team, the failure to add more than 16 seconds to the minimum of six added on was the final straw.
After shaking Pep Guardiola's hand, Farke ran to confront the referee at the final whistle but Bankes flourished the red card before he got close enough to make his point.
At the time of going to press on Monday evening, Leeds were awaiting the referee's report, and with time running out for an appeals process to run its course before the 7.30pm kick-off, it looks like Farke will be on the touchline after all.
As far as he is concerned, that is the only fair outcome.
"If there's a clear and obvious mistake, I would say that then a red card is ruled out," he said. "For me, it's never a red card."
Ostensibly, he was seeing the funny side – "It's actually the first time that I'm accused to run too quickly on the pitch," said the self-styled former slowest striker in western Europe – but he was not at all.
He stressed his respect for "a top, experienced referee in charge of so many top games at this level" but did not hide his anger at him.
"Perhaps Peter wanted to be the first one who gives me a red card," he suggested. "I think he could have even given me a yellow card.
"Like always I go over to the referee to shake hands. I wanted to run over because I want to be the first to speak. I just wanted a short quiet moment with the referee to ask him why he didn't add at least 30 seconds or one minute (more).
"I didn't abuse him at all, I didn't swear at him at all. There were no flying arms or wild gestures.
"I don't even finish because as soon as I arrived he had the red card in his hand. He didn't speak to me, he didn't even look at me.
"It was more like to embarrass me, to show the whole world, 'This guy is not worth talking to. This guy is not even worth looking at.'
"Then I was angry, but even then I didn't use one bad word.
"There is this rule that you shouldn't speak to the referee properly for 30 minutes (after a game) but everyone goes over and sometimes has a question or just shakes hands or there's little comments.
"It's nice that I'm allowed after 30 minutes to speak with the referee but after five minutes I have to speak to an emotional group of my players and give them some answers.
"Then I will be fined if I don't speak to the broadcasters after 10 minutes.
"After I've done my job with the broadcasters, the press conference and the journalists, I return to my office after one hour, sometimes even one-and-a-half hours, the referee is already gone in the taxi!"
His anger had been building after "a possible foul in the build-up before their goal on Brenden Aaronson, a foul given against JJ (James Justin) – he needed to be stitched after the game – there was an incident with (Rayan) Cherki and (Ilia) Gruev (a stamp), there was a handball incident where I think it should be checked (by the video assistant referee).
"I think six minutes added a time for this game was not enough. He (Bankes) walked over to give (Rayan Ait-Nouri) a yellow card for time-wasting – this lasts 20 or 30 seconds.
"I went to (fourth official) Oliver Langford – a top guy, in this game he was excellent – and he said, 'Daniel, don't worry. We will add this time.'
"After six minutes and nine seconds we have the ball, he blows the whistle and ends the game.
"I will never ever jog again on the pitch. I'm not light like a butterfly. I don't look unbelievably cute and sweet when I jog. But I don't think a red card should be shown."
Meanwhile, back at the match, Leeds will have to find new levels of energy after expending plenty against a City side who specialise in making opponents run around.
Justin's stitched leg is a concern, but with Joe Rodon set to play despite a hamstring issue on Saturday, Farke downplayed talk of rotation.
"We had three proper nights between the game so if at this level you're not capable of recovering after 72 hours, you shouldn't be a professional footballer,” he said.
Two strong teams and one wounded manager – if the match is anything as lively as the press conference, it ought to be well worth watching.