Mourinho brands Manchester City ‘lucky’ after win at Old Trafford

• Posted on December 11, 2017December 11, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Jose Mourinho insists Manchester City are “lucky”, and says his Manchester United side were denied a clear penalty in their 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.

With the score at 2-1 to City in the second half, Ander Herrera went down in the area under a challenge from Nicolas Otamendi, but referee Michael Oliver gave Herrera a yellow card for simulation.

City won the game to go 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League, but Mourinho did not hold back in his assessment of Oliver’s decision, and described City’s goals as “bad”.

Mourinho told Sky Sports: “I think they are a very good team, I think they are lucky, I think [they] have all the decisions in their favour, probably yes.”

“But Tuesday is another day in our Premier League, and I am sure all of us, everyone is going to fight for points and try to reduce the distance, which is the normal thing in the championship but of course the advantage is a very good one.”

He had previously said regarding the penalty incident: “Clear penalty. I am sorry for us, sorry for Michael [Oliver], I think he had a good performance, but it’s a clear penalty.

“The ref made a mistake, which can happen. Last season we had a similar situation here against City, winning 2-1 and Mr Clattenburg didn’t see the penalty; Claudio Bravo on Wayne Rooney.

“It is a clear penalty. I am sorry for Michael Oliver because I think he had a good performance.”

Asked if he believed City’s players went down easily, Mourinho said: “True. OK. The referee is a human being, he tried his best, I think he was very committed to have a good a match, which I think he had, but he made one mistake that is a crucial mistake for the result of the match.”

Goals from Otamendi and David Silva gave City the victory, a record 14th in a row in the Premier League this season.

Mourinho refused to clearly praise Pep Guardiola’s side, and focused more on the apparent ease of their two goals, which both came from rebounds.

“We did good things, we did bad things. We had a complete dedication to the match, with every player trying to do their best.

“They score two very bad goals, they score two goals that is quite unbelievable to concede, and when you concede two goals like this in a match of this dimension you feel bad.

“Because now you are going off to speak about what they did well, what they are doing well, and in the end they scored two goals out of nothing, with rebounds really, really two easy goals.”

Asked if the title race was over, Mourinho added: “I don’t know.”

-Skysports