Spanish referee haunts Pep Guardiola as card-happy Antonio Mateu Lahoz kills City dream

Trust a Spaniard to ruin it for Pep. Guardiola ended this frantic night in the stands at the Etihad Stadium wondering what might have been if it hadn’t been for the pesky Antonio Mateu Lahoz, a Spanish referee whose display was all that the Manchester City martinet had feared and worse before this salvage operation.

Sporting his trademark yellow ribbon in support of political prisoners from his native Catalonia, Guardiola's spirit was left wounded by a match official from Valencia who does not take any prisoners. He booked six players without much thought. And left Guardiola bemused by the end of it all.

With City leading 1-0 courtesy of a fine finish from Gabriel Jesus on two minutes, the Premier League champions-in-waiting were well and truly alive in this quarter-final chasing the impossible dream after their 3-0 flogging at Anfield a week ago.

It had appeared City had doubled their lot to lead 2-0 when Leroy Sane converted on 42 minutes only for Lahoz to intervene aided by an assistant referee.

It looked a perfectly legitimate goal upon initial inspection.

Replays illustrated that James Milner, a former City favourite curiously booed by the home diehards, had clearly played the ball back towards his own goal after Loris Karius had failed to punch clear before Sane converted under Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in front of his goal.

It should have stood, but Lahoz decided otherwise. "All the conditions have to be perfect," said Guardiola about the task facing his side beforehand. Well, they weren't. Especially not the Spanish team of match officials.

Where is the much-maligned Mr VAR when you need him?

Guardiola had previous with Mr Lahoz before this contest. He awarded three penalties against City in last season’s Champions League, two for Napoli in 2016 and one most notably against Monaco in a last-16 contest in early 2017 as the Ligue 1 side progressed on away goals over the two legs. He also booked Sergio Aguero for diving against Monaco, a decision that continues to irk Pep.

Lahoz produces more cards than a dealer from Tahoe. He has distributed a farcical 92 yellows, three reds and nine penalties in Spanish football. And now he can add the prized scalp of Pep to his hit list in Europe.

Guardiola decided to get his message across, in what appeared to be some sort of industrial Spanish language, at half-time that resulted in Lahoz directing the City coach to the stands for the second half. The message was clear as soon as Guardiola began mouthing.

"Congratulations to Liverpool first of all. They are a top team," said Guardiola. "They deserve to reach the semi-finals. We will be back stronger in this competition next season.

"I know the referee from Spain. I didn't say any wrong words. I didn't insult him. It was wrong to send me off..

"I said it was a goal when the ball was passed to Leroy Sane. That’s why he sent me off. It would have been different to go in 2-0.

"It’s different when Mo Salah’s goal at Anfield is offside. It’s different when Gabriel Jesus' (disallowed) goal at Anfield is (given) offside."

As Guardiola lost his cool and City the plot, the match was won and lost. Instead of leading 2-0 at half-time, City were left raging against the machine. And a burning sense of injustice wastes vital energy on such evenings.

This game was formally won by delightful second-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino for the visiting side as Liverpool’s glorious counter attacking relish came fully to fore. The City whirlwind was blown out having amassed a plentiful 20 attempts at goal, but Liverpool were merited winners over the two legs.

They appear to be built for this type of combat. They can defend sturdily, specialise in breaking at speed and a smattering of good fortune should never be underestimated in a tournament that has defined their identity since they first won the European Cup in 1977.

Salah’s finish was a thing of real beauty as he clipped the ball into the rigging on 56 minutes with Firmino benefiting from a Nicolas Otamendi error to complete a 5-1 aggregate success with 13 minutes left.

But the narrative and momentum was unquestionably settled by the referee. City have all the money in the world, but their millions cannot buy them luck.

"These kind of decisions make the difference when two teams are so equal. 2-0 at half-time is a big difference from 1-0," said Guardiola.

It has been a decade since Liverpool reached the semi-finals of a tournament they have won five times. They could come across Barcelona's slayers Roma in a repeat of the 1984 European Cup final which they won on penalties buoyed by Bruce Grobbelaar's wobbly legs.

One man’s meat is another man's poison. Liverpool will probably see little wrong with the referee, but for City and particularly Pep he was a Lahoz cause.