After Raheem Sterling controversially won a penalty for Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night, his boss Pep Guardiola has now admitted the player could have been more honest about the incident.
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With City leading 1-0 in their UCL tie with Shakhtar Donetsk, they had a penalty awarded after Sterling went down in the box.
Replays showed there was no contact on the Englishman, and that he had kicked the ground before falling to the turf.
Worst Sterling fall since Brexit pic.twitter.com/ITlZgVj05g
— Wedgeman Simon (@miniminter) November 7, 2018
Despite protests from Shakhtar players, the penalty stood, and Gabriel Jesus converted the spot-kick, but Guardiola said after the match that he felt Sterling could have told the match official to not point to the spot.
"We realised it wasn't a penalty," the Spaniard said, according to the Daily Star.
"Raheem could have told the referee. We don't like to score in that situation.
"You know VAR and what it is – the referee must be helped because they don't want to make mistakes.
"The game is so fast these days. It takes 10 seconds for somebody to say something to the referee."
Sterling also commented on the incident, and admitted he did not feel any contact.
"I went to chip the ball and don't know what happened. I didn't feel contact. I scuffed the ball. Apologies to the ref."
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City were 6-0 winners on the night, with goals from Sterling, Jesus (hat-trick), David Silva and Riyad Mahrez sealing the victory.
Do you agree that Sterling should have told the referee to cancel the penalty? Let us know in the comments section below.
