Manchester City consolidated their place at the top of the Premier League this afternoon, but they did not have it all their own way against Wolves at The Etihad.
They should have won by more than the 1-0 scoreline that the contest finished on, dominating the second half after Raul Jimenez's red card just before the interval. However, it took a very questionable refereeing decision for them to eventually make the breakthrough.
Referee Jonathan Moss adjudged that Joao Moutinho handled Bernardo Silva's cross in the box, but replays seemed to indicate that the ball actually struck his armpit. Despite this, VAR did not overturn the decision and Raheem Sterling went on to score the only goal of the game from the resulting spot kick.
Should Manchester City have had a penalty?
Yes or no 👇 pic.twitter.com/lgpvLFhG4w— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) December 11, 2021
Jimenez's red card was a bizarre one, with the player receiving two bookings in the space of only 45 seconds. The first was the outcome of stopping a City counterattack, with the second coming after he refused to step away and blocked the resulting free-kick.
It was a moment of madness from the Mexican striker, although his manager believes that the initial foul was not deserving of a yellow card.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Bruno Lage questioned that decision and also seemed dumbfounded as to how the penalty was awarded.
"Referee decision and also VAR decision, very, very strange."
"The first yellow card, he didn't touch that man!"
A clearly frustrated Bruno Lage reacts as his Wolves side lost 1-0 away to Man City.
🎙 @TheDesKelly pic.twitter.com/awdYy5gUK4— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 11, 2021
For me it is a very strange refereeing decision and very strange VAR decision. Very, very, very strange.
Come on, I protect VAR every time. VAR is good for modern football, but you need to understand. Okay he puts up his arm to create a bigger body, but where did the ball touch? It wasn't his arm.
That's the thing. I protect VAR, but come on. In the end we need to really understand what happened...
[Jimenez] knows that he cannot do that (block the free-kick), I've already talked to him. It's his responsibility, when I went to the dressing room I saw his face and the disappointment.
But the first yellow card, I talked before the Burnley game about yellow cards in transition. For the first yellow card, I already watched it, he did not touch the man and we have ten men behind him. It was a foul in the first half of the pitch.
They were very hard decisions and they cost us a lot.
Wolves defended admirably despite their one-man disadvantage, almost levelling it at the end via a Max Kilman header.
They can certainly feel aggrieved about the decision that may well have cost them a point.
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