Sunday 11 September 2016 07:59, UK
Jose Mourinho insists Manchester United should have been awarded two penalties in their 2-1 defeat by Manchester City on Saturday.
City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo's rash challenge on Wayne Rooney inside the box went unpunished in the second half, and moments later Antonio Valencia's cross struck the elbow of Nicolas Otamendi in the area.
That also went unpunished, and left the Manchester United manager reeling as he spoke with Sky Sports after the defeat at Old Trafford.
"I am very disappointed with two decisions from Mark [Clattenburg], because it's a penalty and a red card for Bravo," Mourinho said.
"If you tell me that that's not a penalty and a red card, I'll tell you that for sure outside the box it is a free-kick and a red card. Inside the box it has to be the same, but obviously even the best referees make mistakes, and he made a big one.
"The second one is also a penalty, Otamendi is a penalty, you can tell me he has no intention, I think he has intention.
"The arm behind the body, he knows that the cross is not going in his face, it's going in his back, and he drops the elbow back, so two penalties."
The United manager looked on helplessly as City took a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford through Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho, before Zlatan Ibrahimovic halved the deficit before the break.
He sprung up a surprise before kick-off, handing Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan their first Premier League starts of the season, before taking them both off at half-time.
The Portuguese boss admitted he had made a mistake with his selection after the game, and could only blame himself.
He said: "Honestly, I had two or three players in the first half, that if the game is now and I know what is going to happen, obviously I don't play them. But this is football, and sometimes players disappoint managers, and sometimes players give us great surprises.
"I thought because of the characteristics of the game that we could hurt them with some individuals with some qualities, they didn't give me what I want. It's their fault? It's my fault? It's my fault, because I'm the manager and it's always my fault because it's my choice.
"I think in the first half they were much better than us. We started the game bad, with some players really below the normal level, in terms of concentration, mental availability to play a game of this speed.
"You need to be sharp, the way you think and play, we had a few players below the level, and the team paid for it."
"We scored a goal late in the first half, and we could have immediately scored another, but I think it was outside the context of the game in the first half."
Despite the defeat, Mourinho could still find the positives in an improved second-half display from his side.
"The positives are the spirit of the group, the mentality to play in the second half, taking enormous risks against a team who was defending and waiting for a chance to counter attack, and obviously we are very disappointed with the result," Mourinho said.
