Man City defy red card to grab win
Manchester City scored two late goals, including a 90th-minute winner from Raheem Sterling, to beat Schalke 3-2 in the last 16 of the Champions League yesterday on another night when the video assistant referee was a talking point.
After Leroy Sane equalised for 10-man City in the 85th minute with a curling freekick against his former club, Sterling got the better of Bastian Oczipka after chasing a long clearance from goalkeeper Ederson Moraes and calmly finished into the bottom corner.
Trailing to Sergio Aguero’s 19th-minute goal, Schalke needed help from the VAR in scoring two penalties during a chaotic sevenminute span at the end of the first half.
The German team received the first of its penalties when Nicolas Otamendi was adjudged to have handled a shot from Daniel Caligiuri. After a delay of nearly four minutes – the referee wasn’t helped by the pitchside monitor reportedly not working – Nabil Bentaleb converted from the spot in the 38th minute.
The midfielder did so again in the 45th minute and this time the decision was more straightforward after Fernandinho tugged back Salif Sane at a freekick.
Otamendi was handed a second yellow card in the 68th minute for a foul on substitute Guido Burgstaller but City recovered to grab a priceless away win.
In the other match, Atletico Madrid kept Cristiano Ronaldo in check, defeating Juventus 2-0 in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in the Spanish capital.
Defenders Jose Maria Gimenez and Diego Godin scored late goals to give Atletico the win in a game in which video review played a key role, with two big calls going against the hosts.
Ronaldo, jeered nearly every time he touched the ball, had a quiet performance in his first match in Madrid since leaving Real last summer. He came close to scoring with a booming shot from a freekick less than 10 minutes into the match, but had few opportunities after that.
Atletico had a first-half penalty reversed by VAR after it determined that Diego Costa was fouled outside the area, and the referee also consulted video replays on the pitchside monitor before disallowing a second-half goal by Alvaro Morata for a push on Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini.