Manchester City's manager expresses remark about officials from Spain following European stalemate
City's head coach mentioned he has "no comments" to Spanish referees after his team let slip two points against the French side following a last-minute penalty scored by Eric Dier.
The match official was advised to review the play by the video official before pointing to the spot when he determined that Nico González's high boot on the centre-back warranted a punishment.
The Norwegian striker scores two goals but City held by their opponents
The forward struck two times for the visitors, but the advantage was erased first by a Monaco player and subsequently by the penalty-taker's dying-minute spot-kick.
Despite a dominant showing from Guardiola's side, they in the end came up short in the final moments of the game.
Guardiola declines to talk about penalty decision
Pep Guardiola did not want to talk about the specific foul award after the game, instead mentioning referees from his homeland in general terms.
Guardiola has in the past had a strained relationship with his compatriot the referee, who earlier gave three spot-kicks versus Guardiola's team in the same number of Champions League games.
He reflects on the match
We played a really good match,” he said. “On the pitch you have to secure the victory. Looking back at the game there were many aspects that were very good. Step by step we will improve but we had several opportunities and Phil Foden in the initial 45 minutes and many players excelled.”
Guardiola continued: “Monaco protected very deep and tight, that is very unlike to the way they play in the French league, but we performed well. When it’s close, you have to defend and we accept the draw.”
Haaland on performance and late foul
The Norwegian scored a brace, but it was merely enough for a draw, as he took his Champions League tally to a impressive 52 scores in 50 appearances.
“It's not sufficient,” he commented of the collective effort. “We must aim for victory the next game. Our sole focus.”
Haaland remarked: “It's necessary to have additional drive. It was crucial to get at them aggressively like in the opening period, they scored in the final period and in my opinion it was sufficient.”
On the refereeing call, the player noted: “I missed the incident – but if you kick a player in the upper body, it’s probably a spot-kick.”
