Is this a penalty? The referee of the Man United - Man City match made a controversial decision

One of the main matches on Sunday was the Manchester derby: United hosted City.

Josep Guardiola’s "Citizens" had considered the favorites in this pairing. However, they failed to transform this advantage into the score.

The key moment that helped to change this was the episode in the 24th minute of the game: after the struggle in the penalty area of United, referee Paul Tierney decided to award a penalty in favor of City: according to the referee, Hojlund detained Rodri and violated the rules on him.

Fans, analyzing this episode, were divided into two camps: some believed that there was no penalty, but others were sure that for such a violation the referee should have awarded a foul. On the other hand, the screenshot shows that at the same time in the penalty area Gvardiol openly pushed Rashford, who potentially could have fought for the ball.

The referee also showed a yellow card to United goalkeeper Andre Onana before the penalty was awarded. It is also unclear to the end what the penalty was related to. Most likely, the referee thought the goalkeeper was stalling for time.

After the first half, the score in the match, Manchester United - Manchester City, is 0-1. Erling Haaland's goal from the penalty spot is the only one in the game so far.

You can follow the match online on Dailysports here.