Mancini bemoans key decisions

City boss Mancini was fuming with Clattenburg's decision to wave away his side's penalty appeal while they were leading 1-0 and completely dominating at a wet and windy Stamford Bridge.

Clattenburg rubbed salt into the wound by sending off Gael Clichy as well as awarding Chelsea a late spot-kick as Mancini's men lost 2-1 and gave hope to all of their title rivals. And when asked about Clattenburg's performance, Mancini said sarcastically: "I agree with all of his decisions."

The official appeared to have a good view of City's first-half penalty claim, when David Silva went over after Jose Bosingwa dangled his leg in the box.

Asked why Clattenburg might not have seen the incident, Mancini said: "It was raining a lot," before adding: "We did a good performance in the first half. We played very, very well, deserved to score two or three goals. There was a big penalty. There wasn't a fan outside the stadium who didn't see it. But the referee was very close and didn't see it.

"When one team plays very well and has a chance to score another goal there is a big penalty, you should concede. When you play against Chelsea, you can lose, because Chelsea's a good team - but not like this."

Opposite number Andre Villas-Boas admitted his side had been fortunate, saying of Mancini: "It's unlucky for him.

"We've been having our decisions that have not been going our way and [on Monday] it maybe didn't go Man City's way. But that's the nature of the game and at least our penalty's a blatant penalty."

Mancini admitted there had been a heated exchange in the tunnel between opposing players after the game, saying: "I don't know if (Ashley) Cole said something. I don't know what he said. I don't understand."

But Villas-Boas said: "It's untrue and it's unfair. It really doesn't matter now. There's always some trouble-making situation in our wins to divert the story, so whatever."

Source: PA

Source: PA