Man City boss Pep Guardiola has made an admission over Everton penalty claim against his side in Saturday evening's Premier League encounter at Goodison Park. The 51-year-old Spaniard professed that the Toffees should have rightfully earned a spot-kick had Richarlison not been in an offside position prior to the incident.
Everton approached the match-up with the league leaders with the aim to bounce back from their previous defeat away to Southampton. While a win seemed unlikely from the onset, the Merseysiders came close to sharing spoils with the Citizens but had the chance going down the drain following a controversial decision by the match referee and the Video Assistant Referee.
At the time, the Blues were a goal down and had just five minutes of play left to cancel out Phil Foden's second half strike. However, Frank Lampard's men were denied what many regarded as a genuine penalty when a ball struck Rodri on the arm inside Man City's penalty area. Match referee Paul Tierney did not award the host the spot-kick and neither did the Video Assistant Referee, although the latter's verdict did not indicate that Richarlison was marginally offside. The decision has since drawn scrutiny, with experts and fans on social media questioning the efficiency of VAR once more.
An irate Frank Lampard slammed VAR as 'incompetent at best' in his full-time remarks, citing that his 'three-year-old daughter could tell was a spot kick'. The former Chelsea manager's side has now filed an official complaint to the Premier League over recent decisions that they feel have gone against them, citing the weekend's incident as well as another that ensued at Southampton.
"It should've been a penalty."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 28, 2022
Dermot Gallagher says the referee should've been sent to the monitor when Rodri was deemed to commit a handball against Everton #RefWatch pic.twitter.com/Tqzlx9hAoT
Ahead of Man City's FA Cup clash with Peterborough on Tuesday, Guardiola has admitted that Everton should have been awarded a penalty if only Richarlison was onside and puzzled by the supposed implication of the incident to the Premier League title race. "This episode will dictate the whole season?," he said when asked about the possibility of it dictating the course of the season.
"For sure I will review a lot of incidents, my friend," he added. "What I will say is the pass by Dele Alli looks like it's offside to Richarlison, if it's not offside then it's a penalty."
The result left Everton with just three points to show for in their last four Premier League outings. On the contrary, Man City maintained a six-point lead above Liverpool, with the Reds having a game in hand.
