Ederson’s last-gasp penalty heroics saved Manchester City from defeat but a 0-0 stalemate at Crystal Palace on Sunday brought the Premier League leaders’ record-breaking 18-match winning run to an end.
Luka Milivojevic was presented with the chance to seal a memorable victory for Roy Hodgson’s relegation-threatened side when Wilfried Zaha was brought down by Raheem Sterling in injury time.
But the Palace midfielder struck his spot-kick too close to Ederson, allowing the City goalkeeper to preserve his side’s 21-game unbeaten start to the league campaign.
City’s failure to score in a league game for the first time since last April meant they fell short in their bid to equal Bayern Munich 19-game winning run of four years ago, the longest in Europe’s five major leagues, set under their current boss Pep Guardiola.
And City’s afternoon was further soured when Kevin De Bruyne was stretchered off immediately after the spot-kick following an ugly challenge by Palace substitute Jason Puncheon.
Guardiola, who also said forward Gabriel Jesus was likely to be out for up to two months after an injury early in the game, called for referees to take firm action.
“Please, referees, they have to protect players,” he said. “We were lucky against Tottenham and against Newcastle. Today we were not lucky.
“Referees have to protect. We know how strong physically it is England but teams miss big players, not just Manchester City. The replay speaks for itself. We have to protect players.”
– No ‘magic formula’ –
Hodgson claimed before the game there was “no magic formula” to competing with City, insisting his Palace side’s hopes of getting something from the game hinged on working hard and defending well while maintaining an attacking threat |
Comments
Post a Comment