Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte has criticised the use of VAR in his side’s 3-1 Champions League quarter-final loss to Lyon on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s outfit crashed out of the competition unexpectedly, but their defeat was not without controversy with Laporte at the heart of the action.
When Lyon scored their second goal, the centre-back fell after a tangle of legs with OL forward Moussa Dembele, who took advantage of the situation to run through and score what proved to be the winner. Complicating the situation further was a dummy from Karl Toko-Ekambi, who was in an offside position but did not touch the ball. Nevertheless, the goal stood.
Reacting to a clip sent to him on social media that showed BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand stating that he felt it was a foul, Laporte tweeted: “Can’t say Rio is a big City fan, is he? Still, that’s what I got sent tonight…”
The Frenchman followed it up by adding: “Just to be clear: I will not hide, I'm a football player but a man foremost, we all made mistakes in this game, and I also take my responsibility for the bad team performance tonight - but this decision is hard to accept, especially in a crucial qualifier AND with the help of VAR.”
Can't say @rioferdy5 is a big City fan, is he ? Still that's what I got sent tonight... pic.twitter.com/DZkJhMYsNv
— Aymeric Laporte (@Laporte) August 15, 2020
While City were left unhappy with the use of the video officials, Lyon felt they should have been awarded a penalty minutes earlier after footage showed Kyle Walker pushing Maxwel Cornet to the ground in the box – a decision that was not even looked at by the referees in the box.
The Premier League runners-up were unable to fightback from the blow of Dembele’s strike, though Raheem Sterling should have scored when he scooped the ball over an open goal from six yards out.
Less than a minute later, Ederson fumbled a shot from Houssem Aouar, allowing Dembele to turn home the rebound and seal victory for the Ligue 1 club, who now can look forward to a semi-final date with Bayern Munich – the second time they will have faced the Bundesliga club at this stage in the competition, having exited at their hands in 2010.