Man City Boss Banned Two Games for Referee Comments

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency)  Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has been handed a two-game ban in European competitions for an outburst at the officials in his side's Champions League defeat to Barcelona. The Chilean manager had claimed referee Jonas Eriksson had "decided the game," claiming that he "was not impartial to both teams" when awarding Barca a penalty and sending off his defender Martin Demichelis.



Pellegrini later apologized for his comments owing it to frustration and anger following the defeat. "Maybe I say some things I didn't mean in that way so I apologize. I want to clarify what I said, I didn't make any serious accusations, not to the referee, to UEFA. I say the referee decided the match because he didn't give us a foul against [Jesus] Navas and after came the penalty against Demichelis and we had one player sent off."



"I felt from the beginning his criteria was not the same for both teams, I think he had a bad day - everyone can have a bad day - but I didn't say that intentionally he didn't give fouls for us or did give fouls for Barcelona." Pellegrini's ban includes a further one-game sanction that has been suspended for two years