City’s Champions League hopes hang by a thread.
Manchester City lost 2-1 at home to Barcelona on Tuesday night, with the Spanish giants’ two away goals meaning City will be up against it in the second leg in a fortnight.
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While most fans and pundits agreed City were outclassed, full back Clichy has instead shifted blame for their poor performance onto match referee, Felix Brych.
The French international was dismissed midway through the second half for two bookable offences, a decision he felt influenced the momentum of the game after Sergio Aguero had pulled one back for the hosts just minutes before.
“If you play by the rules it is two fouls, two yellows, but they were small fouls. For me, if after the first booking I made several fouls the referee should have come to me and said, ‘Another one for me and I will have to give you a second booking”, he told the Daily Star.
He also claimed the ref let Barcelona get away with tackles that were much worse than the two that saw him sent off. “Some of their players made worse fouls and didn’t get booked once,” he complained. “There were harder ones that did not get a booking. There was (Jordi) Alba on (Sergio) Aguero and (Javier) Mascherano on (Martin) Demichelis. I am not the sort of player who complains about the ref but I think there should have been more bookings on the other side.”
It remains to be seen if UEFA will punish the 29-year-old for his outburst.