Manchester City were denied a penalty against Nottingham Forest for a challenge by Matz Sels on Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva is not at all impressed.
Wednesday night was Manchester City’s lowest point in recent weeks, as 17th place Nottingham Forest claimed a point at the Etihad Stadium.
In fairness, the visitors scored two brilliant goals, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson rising to the occasion.
However, while Man City’s own performance was far from perfect, Erling Haaland was controversially denied a penalty after he was brought down by Matz Sels inside the box.
The Nottingham Forest goalkeeper did not touch the ball, but appeared to make enough contact to bring down the Norwegian.
Bernardo Silva slams decision not to award Man City a penalty
Manchester City’s captain has spoken and he feels his team should have been awarded a spot kick, questioning what Haaland could possibly have done differently.
Although Bernardo Silva is not surprised by the decision, as he has claimed every 50/50 call goes the way of City’s opponents.
“All the 50-50s have gone against us!”
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Bernardo Silva expresses his frustrations with the decisions after sharing the points with Nottingham Forest 🗣️@Sports_EmmaD 🎙️
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He told TNT Sports: “We’re quite used to it this season because all 50/50s have gone against us. It’s the reality. I’ve just watched, for example, the Erling [Haaland] incident [with Matz Sels], and for me it’s a penalty. Some might have a different opinion. What can Erling do?
“As I said, we’re used to it. We know how it works. For us, our job is just to be better because these things we cannot control. What we can control is our own performances and that’s what we need to focus on.”
Pep Guardiola refuses to get drawn into penalty debate
While Silva has been fairly outspoken about the decision which went against Man City, Pep Guardiola is not interested in discussing the penalty claim.
According to the manager, his team have to be good enough regardless of any refereeing decisions, which was clearly not the case against Forest.
He told TNT Sports: “Always I believe we have to do much better, much better to not make interventions from officials. Otherwise, we don’t have anything. It’s our responsibility to do better. “If you have to rely on them with what happened this season, it’s impossible. Nothing more to say.”



