Mourinho’s ref rage as United are denied pen

Michael Oliver booked Herrera for diving. Goals from David Silva and Otamendi gave City victory over United, who scored through Marcus Rashford. Guardiola’s side dominated the game, winning for the second season running at Old Trafford.

But the Portuguese was angry at being denied a spot-kick, as City made it a record 14 straight Premier League wins in a season and ended United’s 40-game unbeaten home run.

“I feel sorry for Michael Oliver, because he had a very good match, but made an important mistake,” Mourinho complained.

“The result was made with a big penalty not given. That would have been 2-2 with 10 minutes to go. Michael was unlucky because it was a clear penalty.

“City are a very good team, but I think they’re lucky. They are protected by the luck, and the gods of football are behind them. They have all these decisions in their favour.

“We can speak about anything you want, we can bring any football theory, you can bring the stats, you can bring the ball possession, you can bring everything you want, but like last season it’s a huge penalty in a crucial moment of the game.”

Mourinho’s claim drew a scathing response from Guardiola (above), who said: “For me, it’s not a penalty, because the intention of Otamendi is not to bring him down.

“When a team has the courage to have 65 per cent ball possession, it’s because they want to try to play and that’s we’ve done. We’re clear, we’re open, we’re honest and we want to attack.

“The others can do what they want. We won because we were better.

“In December, you cannot be champions. We’ll see what position we are in March and April, but we’re so happy to make 14 games winning.”

Asked if the title race was over, Mourinho said: “Probably, yes. But I’m pretty sure all of us – second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth – are going to fight for points and try to reduce the distance, but the advantage is a very good one.”