Raheem Sterling has apologised to referee Viktor Kassai and Shakhtar Donetsk after he was awarded a bizarre penalty in Manchester City’s 6-0 Champions League triumph.
The call contributed to Manchester City’s 6-0 Champions League win, leading the attacker to ask forgiveness after the game
The England winger went down in the box after 24 minutes having kicked the turf as he shaped to shoot in Wednesday’s Group F clash.
However, Kassai believed Sterling had been brought down by Mykola Matvyenko and promptly pointed to the spot, allowing Gabriel Jesus to net City’s second.
City boss Pep Guardiola appeared to motion that he did not agree with the decision and Sterling himself accepts that he was the beneficiary of an incorrect call.
“I went to chip the ball and I don’t know what happened next,” he told BT Sport. “I ended up on the floor and turned around.
“I don’t think I felt contact, it was my bad. I hit the floor, scuffed the floor, so apologies to the ref and apologies to Shakhtar.”
Discussing City’s win, which featured a Jesus hat-trick and sends his side three points clear of Lyon at the top of the group, Sterling added:
“It was massive. We needed to get the win to keep the pressure on the others and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
