Real Madrid vs Man City ref watch: Three decisions that Maurizio Mariani got wrong in Champions League clash

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Things could have been even worse for Guardiola’s charges, had Gianluigi Donnarumma not been on hand to save a penalty from Vinicius Junior in the 58th minute.Referee Maurizio Mariani was left without a major decision to make as Man City were comfortably beaten, and with that in mind, Football Insider picks out three errors that were made by the man in the middle. VISIT THE MATCH HUBMan City denied penalty for Antoine Semenyo incidentAntoine Semenyo has quickly become a key figure for City since his arrival from Bournemouth in January, and he made his Champions League debut on Wednesday night.

Credit: ImagoIt was far from an obvious foul from Alexander-Arnold in real time, but replays showed that that it was the type of challenge that penalties could be awarded for from almost every corner.Mariani gets Jeremy Doku incident wrongMadrid had City firmly on the rack after the first two goals of Valverde’s quickfire hat-trick, and the visitors were let off the hook by Mariani in the 37th minute.Jeremy Doku raced Brahim Diaz to a loose ball after a City set-piece, with the Belgian desperately trying to play the ball back to his own goalkeeper from just inside the Madrid half. Credit: ImagoIt was a fairly innocuous decision by the referee in the context of the game, but it could have left City in even further trouble had Diaz been able to latch onto Doku’s attempted back pass.Rayan Ait-Nouri unlucky with yellow cardRayan Ait-Nouri became the first outfield player to enter Mariani’s book, when he was shown a yellow for stopping a Madrid counter-attack in the 81st minute.

The left-back was cautioned for bundling over Franco Mastantuono with the hosts on the attack in the City half, but it could be argued that he was somewhat unlucky to go into the book for his first foul of the game. It was a decision that compounded City’s dismal evening, as they were totally outclassed by their opponents.