Pep Guardiola Reveals What He Said to the Referee to Get Sent Off in UCL Defeat to Liverpool
Pep Guardiola has revealed what he said to referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz before he was sent to the stands in Manchester City's 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
The Citizens faced a mountainous task of overturning the three-goal deficit set by Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final tie. However, Guardiola's side got off to the perfect start after Gabriel Jesus scored inside two minutes on Tuesday night.
With City in the ascendency, the game's most controversial moment occurred when Leroy Sane's tap in (which would've made the score 2-0 before half-time) was adjudged to have been offside.
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The City boss was left incensed at the decision, insisting that the ball came off Liverpool player Jame Milner and Sane could therefore not have been offside.
The former Barcelona boss made his feelings known at half time when he disputed the decision with the match officials on the pitch, but was sent to the stands and was forced to watch the second half from the stands.
If things weren't sour enough for Guardiola, he then had to watch his team concede two goals in the second half as Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino put Liverpool 2-1 up on the night and 5-1 ahead on aggregate.
With, much of the post-match attention turned to the performance of the referee, the Man City boss revealed what he said to Lahoz in order to get sent to the stands.
The City boss said, as quoted by Manchester Evening News: "I said it was a goal when the ball was passed to Leroy Sane. That’s why he sent me off. I didn't insult him, I just said it's a goal, the ball came from Milner. He said, 'oh the pass came from Milner?' And I said yes, it came from Milner.
"I was polite, I was correct but Mateu Lahoz is a special guy - he likes to be different, he likes to be special. It would have been different to go in 2-0. It’s different when [Mo] Salah’s goal at Anfield is offside.
"It’s different when Gabriel Jesus' goal at Anfield is offside. It's a penalty for Raheem Sterling from Andy Robertson in front of the fourth official."
