City chiefs hold summit to protect stars

MANCHESTER CITY bosses held urgent talks yesterday to explore ways of combatting the spate of ugly challenges posing a threat to their stars. Three days after Leroy Sane suffered ankle ligament damage as a result of a tackle from Cardiff defender Joe Bennett, Brahim Diaz and Kevin De Bruyne were the victims of nasty fouls in City’s 3-0 victory over West Bromwich on Wednesday night. City want action to be taken and discussed several options at the Etihad yesterday. They include a meeting between the club’s director of football Txiki Begiristain and referees’ chief Mike Riley, and lobbying the FA for a change in the rules governing retrospective punishment. Offences that have been seen and dealt with by the match officials cannot currently be punished further. West Brom substitute Matt Phillips was cautioned by Bobby Madley for an awful, lunging tackle on Diaz. Republic of Ireland international James McClean was also booked for diving into a late challenge on De Bruyne in the build-up to City’s second goal. ‘I didn’t know the tackle was like that,’ said De Bruyne afterwards. ‘I’ve just seen it. Let’s just say the ball wasn’t in the neighbourhood. ‘The referee told me he didn’t touch me enough to get the red card, but I told him: “I saw the guy — I was jumping!”’ City team-mate Bernardo Silva urged referees to show more red cards to deter further assaults. ‘We hope they start protecting our players because the way other teams are tackling, it’s not part of the game,’ said the Portugal international. ‘It’s not fair play and they have to try to punish the players who play this way. It’s clear over the last few months and we’ve seen it with Leroy. It was a terrible accident and now he’s injured. ‘This time it could have been Brahim, it could have been Kevin on the second goal. I think the referees have to do their job. ‘If it’s a red card they have to give the red card. They are not doing that.’ City’s players have been targeted in an attempt to knock them off their stride this season.