Stefan Ortega would have thought Manchester City were on course for a comfortable win against Aston Villa after Bernardo Silva fired them into an early lead.
But later in the first half, Aston Villa were handed a controversial penalty as VAR and Craig Pawson seemed to think Ruben Dias seemed to have made enough contact on Jacob Ramsey inside the box.
Marcus Rashford went on to score his spot-kick and send Stefan Ortega the wrong way.
Thankfully for Manchester City, the decision was ultimately deemed inconsequential as Matheus Nunes scored the all-important winner in the 94th minute.
But regardless, Ortega has decided to have his say on Aston Villa’s penalty against Manchester City in their eventual 2-1 defeat.
Stefan Ortega complains about VAR after Aston Villa’s penalty vs Man City
After Manchester City beat Aston Villa, Ortega was asked his view on the penalty that Rashford eventually dispatched.
While Manchester City goalkeeper Ortega thinks the decision to hand the penalty was fair, it was a 50-50 call where VAR should not intervene.
The German said via BBC Sport: “My reaction was the same as Pep’s. They told us before that if it is 50/50, VAR shouldn’t intervene.”
“It was 50/50 for me. It was not on purpose to foul the player. It wasn’t the wrong decision but VAR should not intervene in this situation.”
Mark Clattenburg says whether Aston Villa deserved a penalty vs Man City
Mark Clattenburg felt Aston Villa’s penalty against Manchester City was deserved, saying: “Dias of Manchester City comes across Ramsey of Aston Villa and catches his opponent on the upper body. The defender does touch the ball but this was after the Villa forward players had passed the ball forward onto the defender’s foot.”
“This contact by the defender was not a deliberate play and the consequence of the touch by the forward. It’s a penalty for me, but it will create debate.
However, Clattenburg did admit that Ortega’s claim about VAR is a debate for another day while reviewing Aston Villa’s penalty against Manchester City: “Should VAR interfere, that’s another debate, and I don’t believe they should after what Howard Webb, Head of PGMOL, said earlier in the season that it needs to be a clear and obvious error of the referee. This decision is a debate and should stay with the on-field decision.”
