Manchester City were denied a penalty when Rayan Cherki was brought down in the box by Milos Kerkez early into their FA Cup clash with Liverpool; Pep Guardiola’s reacting from the stands

Pep Guardiola threw his arms up in disbelief when Manchester City were denied a crucial penalty against Liverpool in the FA Cup on Saturday. The Spanish tactician was forced to watch on from the stands as his side played host to the Reds, on account of a two-game touchline ban.

Guardiola has accrued six yellow cards in domestic competitions this season, and as a result, was forced to watch on from the wings of the Etihad Stadium for their early kick-off against Arne Slot’s side. However, that ultimately will have provided him with quite the vantage point for the quarter-final clash.

TNT Sports cameras were quick to cut to the 55-year-old when Rayan Cherki was brought down in the opposition box 18 minutes into the encounter, shifting the ball quickly as Milos Kerkez seemingly brought him to ground.

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However, Michael Oliver’s on-field decision was not to award a spot kick, as VAR quickly checked and cleared the process of play in the background. As camera’s moved over to Guardiola, he was spotted throwing his arms up in the air in frustration with a look of shock painted across his face, feeling hard done by at the fact his team were not given the chance to break the deadlock from 12 yards.

However, Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist were quick to give their verdict on whether it should have been a penalty in City’s favour on comms for TNT Sport. Fletcher explained: “It’s been checked and cleared.

“Mark Howard the VAR had a look and he’s not interested in any of it. But there is contact in there.”

McCoist then replied: “I’m leaning towards the decision being the correct one,” before Fletcher asked: “Do you think he’s seen that maybe the contact was initiated by Cherki?”

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McCoist then said: “Yes is the answer to your question. I think he maybe drags his left leg into the challenge. I think he could played it wide to [Antoine] Semenyo.”

Guardiola may have felt karma was in play later on in the first-half of the match when City were awarded a spot kick from a separate incident. With around 10 minutes until the interval, Nico O’Reilly was brought down by Virgil van Dijk in a clumsy challenge from behind, Oliver blowing for a foul immediately.

Erling Haaland ultimately stepped up and converted the chance, rolling it to Giorgi Mamardashvili’s left before wheeling off in celebration toward the corner of the Etihad.

The Norwegian’s work for the half was not done there however. Cherki made his way down the right-hand flank two minutes into extra time before playing Semenyo through in the box, the Ghanaian then dinking the ball into the middle of the area were Haaland nodded home after beating Ibrahima Konate with a towering header to make it 2-0.