Man City vs Aston Villa: VAR Controversy Angers Pep Guardiola and Fans After Penalty Decision

Manchester City and their manager Pep Guardiola were left very angry after a controversial penalty decision was made during their match against Aston Villa — and things only got worse when a replay was shown on the big screen at the Etihad Stadium.

City had taken an early lead thanks to Bernardo Silva. But soon after, Aston Villa asked for a penalty when Jacob Ramsey fell inside the box after a coming together with City’s defender Ruben Dias.

At first, the referee, Craig Pawson, did not give a penalty and let the game continue. However, after a short VAR check, Pawson was told to go and look at the incident again on the pitchside monitor.

After watching the replay, Pawson changed his decision and awarded a penalty to Aston Villa. The video shown to him came from a camera placed behind Jacob Ramsey, which made it look like Dias had clipped the Villa player.

But what really upset City fans and the coaching staff was that when the foul was replayed on the big screen inside the stadium, it was from a different angle — one that clearly showed Dias getting a touch on the ball first.

This new angle seemed to prove that Dias didn’t foul Ramsey and actually made a clean challenge, yet this clearer view was only shown after the penalty had been given.

City fans inside the stadium were furious. They booed loudly and whistled in frustration. Many of them took to social media to complain about the poor use of VAR and how it failed to show the right camera angle before the referee made his decision.

One fan wrote: “VAR failing to show the angle where Dias gets the ball in order to change the referee’s mind and give a penalty. It’s an absolute farce.”
Another added: “That isn’t a penalty, VAR does not show the angle where Ruben touched the ball.”
A third fan said: “Yet again VAR don’t show best angle until after referee has decided.”

Pep Guardiola was also extremely upset. He argued on the sidelines, using hand gestures to show that Dias had pulled out of the tackle and made contact with the ball. His protests were so strong that he was shown a yellow card by the referee.

Despite all the complaints, Marcus Rashford kept calm and scored the penalty for Aston Villa, bringing the score to 1-1.