James Milner should have been sent off for a second cautionable offence when he denied a promising attack in the 74th minute.
I don’t think anyone would have complained if Paul Tierney dismissed the Liverpool full-back for the foul on Bernardo Silva.
Referee Tierney had a decent game, but let himself down by not making the big call. That incensed Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who showed his frustration and was booked.
I don’t condone Pep’s actions, but if Tierney had shown a yellow in the first place, the flashpoint would have been avoided.
Milner also fouled Phil Foden on 31 minutes but it was a subjective decision and Tierney didn’t deem it was a free-kick.
It was outside the area and VAR doesn’t intervene in situations like this.
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Had Tierney given a free-kick, he would have to consider whether Milner denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
The Liverpool man was finally cautioned on 42 minutes when he pulled Foden back – and Tierney was right to brandish the yellow card in this instance.
*Pictures from BBC Sport
Three yellow card offences for Milner, at least one of which could have been straight red.
Klopp and the LFC machine really got inside Tierney’s head (search LFC and Tierney and you’ll find all of Anfield saying he’s biased *against* them in the run up to this game).