Pep Guardiola lamented that VAR needs to be fixed after he watched his Manchester City team have a last-minute winner against Tottenham ruled out on Saturday.
City thought they had snatched a late win when Gabriel Jesus’s effort trickled past Hugo Lloris, only to be ruled out for handball after the referee consulted with the video assistant.
The drama was reminiscent of last season’s Champions League quarter-final between the two sides when a stoppage-time goal from Raheem Sterling was disallowed, a decision which sent City out and Spurs into the semi-final.
‘I thought we left that situation in Tottenham in the Champions League last season,’ Guardiola told Sky Sports after the game. ‘But it is the same. The referee and VAR disallow it. It’s the second time [it’s happened] – it’s tough. It’s honestly tough but it’s the way it is.
‘It happened last week with Wolves and we saw for Chelsea on Wednesday – the keeper wasn’t on his line – Adrian in the penalty shoot-out. They have to fix it. The whistle inside matches now isn’t quite clear. But they believe it’s hands with Llorente in the Champions League and sometimes they don’t.
‘It was incredible it wasn’t a penalty in the first half [for the foul on Rodri in the box] but VAR said it wasn’t and then at the end they did. I’m pretty sure people were happy today we just need to work harder at scoring our chances.’
City twice led at the Etihad Stadium against Spurs before being pegged back, with goals from Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura cancelling out strikes from Sterling and Sergio Aguero.
‘The way we played was incredible – I am so proud,’ said Guardiola. ‘The amount of shots we had was great and we only let them have two.
‘People say we can improve but the result is all that counts in the end. We would like to win because the guys deserved it but sometimes football is like this.
‘They crossed the halfway line maybe four or five times in 90 minutes so we defended well. [Goals from] corners happen when you have good takers and good headers but of course we will work on [defending them].’