Bernardo Silva: Officiating impacting Man City’s championship bid
Bernardo Silva has indicated that refereeing decisions unfavorable to Manchester City are impacting Pep Guardiola’s team in the title race.
Following the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, City found themselves seven points behind leaders Arsenal.
Silva expressed particular disappointment regarding referee Darren England’s choice not to award a penalty for Matz Sels’ challenge on Erling Haaland when the score was 2-1.
After the match, he acknowledged the frustration within the dressing room stemming from the belief that City has not benefited from close calls this season.
“I just think that all the 50-50 [decisions] this season have gone against us,” Silva stated.
“All of them. And it’s quite frustrating. Because in the end, it makes a significant difference in the title race.”
City was ahead 2-1 when Haaland fell in the penalty area after Sels slid toward the Norwegian’s feet.
England dismissed the appeals, and the incident was reviewed and cleared by VAR Tony Harrington.
“So, if Erling is running, and the goalkeeper just crashes into him, what can he do, just disappear?” Silva contended.
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“The goalkeeper can just crash into someone? He’s not going to shoot the ball, because the goalkeeper comes at him. So what, he disappears?”
Dropping points against Forest, along with Arsenal’s narrow victory at Brighton, leaves City facing a challenging path in the title race.
Guardiola’s squad is set for a critical stretch before the March international break, with five matches across three competitions, including Saturday’s FA Cup encounter at Newcastle, a two-legged Champions League tie against Real Madrid, and the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.
“I would say that in these few weeks we’re not going to win a lot, but we can lose a lot,” Silva remarked.
“So this month can keep us alive, apart from the Carabao final obviously, the rest of this month can keep us alive to fight for the competitions until the end, or it can put us down and we just go for one or two competitions.
“Hopefully, we will still be in all four of them in a month’s time.”
