By Daily Sports on April 11, 2018

Pep Guardiola felt Manchester City were on the wrong end of some poor refereeing decisions after bowing out of the Champions League at the hands of Liverpool.

The City manager was sent to the stands for protesting to referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz as City were beaten 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium to lose their quarter-final tie 5-1 on aggregate.

City made a superb start to the second leg, scoring early through Gabriel Jesus, but Leroy Sane had another goal incorrectly disallowed for offside after the ball was inadvertently played to him by Liverpool’s James Milner.

With Guardiola also believing Raheem Sterling should have had a penalty following a challenge by Andy Robertson, he complained at half-time and was punished by Lahoz.

“I said he was wrong,” said Guardiola when asked about his dismissal. “I didn’t insult him. I just said it was a penalty and it was a goal.

“The ball (for Sane) came from (James) Milner. He said, ‘From Milner it came?’ ‘Yes, from Milner’.

“When it comes from Milner it is not offside, and we go to half-time 2-0. Two-nil against that team is a little bit different.

“In these kind of games, in these competitions, the impact is so big. At Anfield the first goal from (Mohamed) Salah is offside. The goal from Gabriel Jesus in Anfield was a goal, not offside.”

Guardiola has had his run-ins with Lahoz before. The Spanish official angered Guardiola by not giving City a penalty a last-16 clash last season and he also gave Napoli two penalties at the Etihad Stadium earlier in this campaign.

“I know him from Spain,” Guardiola said. “I could imagine that.”

City were unable to maintain the intensity of their ferocious start after the break and goals from Salah and Roberto Firmino ended their challenge.

Guardiola had no complaints about the overall result and will now turn his attention to securing the Premier League title.

“I should say big congratulations to Liverpool for going through,” he said. “Hopefully they can defend English football in the semi-finals.

“They are a top team with a top manager and I would say they deserve to be in the final.

“But we made an outstanding 45 minutes, really good. A big congratulations to the players for this competition because it was so good.

“We will come back stronger next season. Now we have a mini Premier League for six games and we are going to try to close it.”

Klopp rued his side’s poor start but credited the way they came back.

He told BT Sport: “It was difficult tonight, especially with the start, this wonderful goal we served them almost on a plate.

“We needed to react in the right way, I liked the reaction immediately after that.

“As normal City took all the risks they could take and we needed a little bit of luck.”

Klopp admitted that the luck came as City failed to add to their first goal.

He said: “They could have scored two or three in the first half. It was 100 per cent clear if we won a ball we would have opportunities.

“If they want the ball from you they have to kill you. We are in the semis so we deserve it.”

•Story (except headline) sourced from RTE. Photo shows Guardiola with hand to head at the Etihad stadium after Liverpool’s second goal.

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 11, 2018

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