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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Tyrone Marshall

Pep Guardiola makes Old Trafford and Anfield comparison after Man City offside decision

Pep Guardiola felt Manchester United's equaliser in the derby should have been ruled out for offside, but that it was a decision his side wouldn't get at Old Trafford.

Guardiola compared the call to a goal his team had ruled out at Anfield earlier in the season and suggested decisions were harder to come by at these two grounds than elsewhere.

United levelled 12 minutes from time when Bruno Fernandes ran onto Casemiro's pass and lifted a finish over Ederson, but the pass had been intended for Rashford, who was in an offside position.

READ MORE: City player ratings vs United

Rashford had come close to touching the ball and was about to shoot before Fernandes took it off him. The flag initially went up before Stuart Atwell awarded the goal, much to the anger of City's players.

"The [assistant] referee said he intervenes, here he said not intervene in this stadium, what are we to do? Are we going to make a complaint? No. It sometimes happens on our side," said Guardiola.

"The decision is they didn’t believe Rashford was intervening in this stadium. This is Old Trafford, we have to play much better, like Anfield, we have to do better.

"The question was did he make an action to distract the central defender or the goalkeeper? For Edi he is going to shoot, that's the point, but the rule is the rule and the interpretation belongs to the referees."

Guardiola said the decisions of his defenders had been conditioned by Rashford being offside, rather than Fernandes, and that United's attacker had interfered with play.

“Rashford is offside, Bruno is not offside, the question is interference. When one player from 18-yard box shoots and one player is in front of the keeper but doesn’t touch the ball, it is disallowed all the time," said Guardiola.

“The situation and the decision is the referee’s, the VAR, our defenders make a line [for Rashford], if we know it’s Fernandes we don’t make the line, we follow the action, and after the action the interference for Edi.

“This is the decision in this stadium with the referee and the VAR. After conceding a goal we cannot concede the next one, this is the most important detail we have to improve in the future."

Despite suffering a second defeat in the week, Guardiola was happy with the performance of his side and the improvement they showed from losing in abject circumstances at Southampton on Wednesday.

“They are an incredible transitional team, in the first half we started really well, controlled really well, but we were not in the right position in case we lost the ball to avoid running," said Guardiola.

“Second half was brilliant. A similar game we played many times here getting good results, knowing the quality of the opponent and the history playing at Old Trafford.

“We behave and perform at our best, we miss a little bit up front, the quality of the players, but sometimes it happens."

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