Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel furious about Raheem Sterling being offside for Manchester City’s first goal
England winger looked off and tried to get a touch on David Silva's shot as Foxes lost 2-1 to City who strengthen grip on top four spot
LEICESTER keeper Kasper Schmeichel spoke furiously about Raheem Sterling being offside for Manchester City's first goal today.
The Foxes, safe now from Premier League relegation, lost 2-1 to City who strengthened their grip on a top four spot as they moved above Liverpool into third.
David Silva opened the scoring with a scuffed effort inside the box from Leroy Sane's cross - but Sterling tried to get a touch on the ball, seemingly impairing Schmeichel's view.
Gabriel Jesus extended the City lead from a penalty after Yohan Benalouane felled Sane before Shinji Okazaki equalised with a left-footed volley.
Riyad Mahrez had a golden chance for Leicester to equalise late on from the spot after being brought down by Gael Clichy - but slipped and kicked it twice, prompting ref Bobby Madley to give a free kick the other way.
Schmeichel told Sky: "Definitely, the first goal is offside. Anybody who has played football, especially in goal, will know it’s offside.
"First of all he’s blocking my view when the ball comes across him, he blocks Christian Fuchs from making an attempt to get the ball.
"So it’s offside and it’s one of these debates we’d love to get involved in and, as players, we’re not allowed to.
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"That’s what makes it very frustrating that they’re not willing to listen. They come in and tell us the rule but they won’t listen.
"He’s offside three times. It’s frustrating as we did well up to then and then we lost our composure and then they get the second one."
And while he conceded it was tricky with the Mahrez slipping, he slammed the consistency given Antoine Griezmann did a similar thing the other week for Atletico Madrid, which stood.
He added: "The incident with Riyad is a freak one. We saw the incident with Griezmann in the semi-final and it stood.
"You talk about consistency, it’s very difficult to take. There was something not right with the spin on the ball, but you’ve seen it given in the Champions League."
But England winger Sterling claimed innocence with the offisde, saying: "I knew if I touched it I would be offside so I swung a foot at it and then left it.
"I wasn’t worried it would be ruled out as I didn’t touch it. It definitely served to stand."