Manchester City secured a 2-1 victory over Newcastle, but the visitors may be left wondering why two big decisions did not go their way.
Newcastle were always going to put up a good fight against Man City and they came very close to getting a point at the end.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was forced into a big stoppage time save which saw the home team maintain their lead shortly before the match reached its conclusion.
While City were on top for much of the game, Newcastle may feel hard done by as there were two controversial refereeing calls which went against them.
Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias almost caused Man City issues
Newcastle thought they had levelled the game for a second time against Manchester City when Dan Burn headed the ball into the net, but he was deemed to be offside.
However, the defender was only in this position because he had been shoved there by Ruben Dias as the visitors were taking a free kick.
Then in the opening stages of the second half, Bernardo Silva almost came under fire when he collided with Burn after jumping into the defender.
Was Bernardo Silva lucky not to receive a second yellow card here? 🤔@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/mnkuwid4PA
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 21, 2026
Despite this appearing to be a rather cynical offence, the captain escaped without receiving a second yellow card.
Manchester City will not care how their victory was secured
For Pep Guardiola and his City team, the important thing is that they were able to get three points and now it is time to move on and focus on the next match.
There may have been moments when the home team got a bit lucky with the referee’s decision-making, but it would be wrong to let this spoil what was a good performance.
Man City arguably deserved to win on Saturday as they created more chances and played a better attacking game.
