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10th Dec 2017

Jose Mourinho thinks the referee made a ‘crucial mistake’ in the Manchester derby

"They are lucky and they get all the decisions in their favour."

Matthew Gault

He feels the referee got the biggest decision of the day completely wrong.

Jose Mourinho was disappointed that Manchester United were denied a ‘clear penalty’ during their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola’s side moved 11 points clear of their rivals with the win but Mourinho feels as though referee Michael Oliver cost his team a point.

With City leading 2-1, Ander Herrera went down under matchwinner Nicolas Otamendi’s challenge. The Basque midfielder looked to go down rather easily and Oliver agreed as he booked him for diving.

The decision left Mourinho bemoaning what he felt was a poor decision, making as much clear during a tense post-match interview with Sky Sports.

“Clear penalty. I’m sorry for us, I’m sorry for Michael [Oliver]. I think he had a good performance but it is a clear penalty.

“The referee made a mistake, which can happen. Last season, we had a similar situation against City when Mr Clattenburg didn’t see [Claudio] Bravo on [Wayne] Rooney.

“The referee is a human being. I think he tried his best to have a good match, which I think he had but he made a crucial mistake.”

https://twitter.com/Coral/status/939929913263624193

Mourinho was also disappointed with his side’s defending which allowed City to score two ‘bad’ goals. He went on to call City ‘lucky,’ which will be sure to raise a few eyebrows.

“What they are good at they weren’t good at today and they scored two bad goals, two easy goals from rebounds and you can’t do that in a match of this dimension.

“I think they are a good team but they are lucky and they get all the decisions in their favour.”

United will hope to bounce back when they host Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.