Manchester City's furious players confronted referee Stuart Attwell in the Old Trafford tunnel after his controversial offside decision brought a devastating derby defeat.
Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji led City’s bitter complaints after Attwell had ruled Marcus Rashford was not interfering with play when Bruno Fernandes fired home a 78th-minute equaliser for rivals United. Pep Guardiola admitted he was mystified how Attwell could allow the goal to stand after assistant Darren Cann had raised his flag.
And when Rashford put United ahead four minutes later with a close-range strike that sparked wild Old Trafford celebrations, City’s players could not contain their anger. As both teams made their way to the dressing room, a number of City players told Attwell how he had blundered.
Both Manchester clubs insisted afterwards that the altercation was quickly diffused - but Akanji also suggested that there had also been an issue in the tunnel between both sets of players.
Akanji said: “Probably the pressure got to the referee in the stadium - that’s why he decided to let it go.
“I came really late to it (in the tunnel). When I was there it was close to the end.
“I don’t know how it started or what was the actual reason but everybody was not in a good mood. United were in a good mood and we weren’t in a good mood. It is good that nothing more happened and it kind of finished in peace.”
United are now just a point behind City after delivering a defeat that leaves the champions’ hopes of winning the Premier League for a third successive season hanging by a thread.
Erik ten Hag told fans they are right to dream about the reds launching their own challenge for the title - but insisted his players won’t be getting carried away.
Ten Hag said: “The fans can dream - but we will not.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground and then face the fact that our game has a lot to improve. It can’t happen that we lose control of games like we did today after half-time, for instance.
“When we do the right things and follow the right rules we can control games like we did in the first half. We need to keep working on that and investing in it.”
