The Manchester City supporters have taken issue with the post-match comments of the Dinamo Zagreb boss Nenad Bjelica after the Premier League champions thrashed the Croatian champions on Wednesday evening, as relayed by Twitter account City Chief.
City ran out 4-1 winners and have been criticised by their opponents for continuing to play on and eventually scoring when the home side had a player down on the ground injured.
Bjelica’s claims feel somewhat hypocritical and these fans did not hold back in their responses.
Should Golak be retrospectively banned after his elbow on Rodri?
Yes
No
Fair play? Your player elbowed our player in the face. Also your player went down after making a tackle on foden & injure him but he couldn’t stop him so he acted like he’s injured himself to stop the play. Why should we stop the play when your players were overacting whole time?
— Muhammad Owais Khan (@owaiskhan75) December 12, 2019
Fair play? Fairly ironic when your team tried to kick and elbow city off the pitch
— Charlie Strong (@itz_charlie2001) December 12, 2019
So im suppose to believe City was suppose to turn around a kick the ball out of the 18 yard box because your player got an injury which wasn’t to the head.
— Diamond Socks ?? (@FetteCity) December 12, 2019
Fair play? Ok yeah let’s pretend that one of their players didn’t lunge into Rodri to purposely elbow him which could of damaged his cheek bone
— Josh Chapman (@JoshMCFCctid) December 12, 2019
We were on the attack and your player went down, that’s not our fault just a cheap way of trying to stop play. You’re taught from the day you walk into your first training session to play until the whistle, the ref saw your cheap attempt to stop an attack and let play go on.
— Tony Lee Currie (@TonyLeeCurrie) December 12, 2019
lol imagine someone on the side of a vicious elbow to the face blathering on about fair play.
— Pete Hausler (@petehausler) December 12, 2019
What do we think?
Dinamo Zagreb had two players down whilst Gabriel Jesus levelled the score in the first half but neither was a head injury, therefore, City had no obligation to stop play. Speaking of fair play, the Croatian side were extremely fortunate not to have a player sent off after Amer Golak viciously elbowed Rodri.
Astonishingly, the VAR did not intervene sparking further questions around the tool’s use – however, that is a debate for another day.
It seems like ‘sour grapes’ on Bjelica’s part when the reality is Manchester City and Gabriel Jesus were just too strong on the night.