Manchester City's Sterling apologizes for wrongly-awarded penalty

Raheem Sterling and Manchester City benefited from an incorrect call on Wednesday, and the forward has now apologized to Shakhtar Donetsk.

City thrashed the Ukrainians 6-0 at Etihad Stadium, but the club was gifted its second goal when a penalty was awarded for a supposed foul on Sterling. Subsequent replays clearly showed the England man tripped on the turf, and opposing defenders didn’t contact him.

Gabriel Jesus converted from the spot, his first goal of an eventual hat trick, and Sterling scored on a superb effort in the second half as Pep Guardiola’s side ran riot, all but assuring its place in the knockout round.

After the game, both Sterling and Guardiola admitted the decision, which came halfway through the first 45 minutes, wasn’t correct.

“I went to chip the ball and I don’t know what happened next,” Sterling said, via The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards. “I ended up on the floor and turned around. I don’t think I felt contact, it was just my bad. I hit the floor and scuffed the floor. Apologies to the ref and apologies to Shakhtar.”

There was little need for Sterling to apologize for an act as unfortunate as it was unintentional. Guardiola suggested VAR should be employed for such occasions.

“We realized it was not a penalty straight away,” the City boss said.

“We don’t really like to score a goal in that situation because it was clear,” He continued. “We know what the situation is with VAR, it really should not be hard to ask someone to look at that for four or five seconds, say it’s not a penalty and move on.”