Micah Richards has admitted that his good friend James Milner was lucky to avoid a red card for Liverpool on Sunday.
The already-booked defender put referee Paul Tierney in an awkward position by fouling Bernardo Silva in the second half.
But the referee refrained from issuing the veteran Liverpool star with a second booking.
Moments later, the Reds went 2-1 ahead through Mohamed Salah and City boss Pep Guardiola cut a furious figure on the sidelines.
Richards, speaking on Sky Sports after, said it was a ‘baffling’ decision by the referee to let him away with it, arguing that Tierney was influenced by the Liverpool supporters.
He said: “We can see up here it’s a yellow card how can’t he be giving that it’s absolutely baffling, it’s annoying to be honest. People know how hard it is to come to Anfield, it’s tough, one of the toughest places to come in Europe but you’ve got to give, he was influenced by the crowd.
“James Milner’s one of my best mates but you’ve got to tell the truth on the situation he’s landed on his neck!”
Considering Joe Gomez was stripped and ready to come on within seconds of the foul, you could argue that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp himself knew that it was a foul and wasn’t going to risk Milner doing it again.
And he probably would have because some of Guardiola’s troops gave the 35-year-old a torrid time, with Milner deputising for Trent Alexander-Arnold once again.
You can certainly see why Richards – and Guardiola – were so frustrated, because it was a blatant bookable offence, but Liverpool have been on the wrong side of numerous incidents like this down the years and City will be on the right side of many more.
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