Gary Neville slams Kevin De Bruyne for ‘trying to con the referee’ in Man City’s clash with Leicester – as he insists the midfielder ‘should have been booked’ after going down in the penalty area
Gary Neville insisted Kevin De Bruyne should have been shown a yellow card for diving as the Manchester City star tried to win a penalty against Leicester.
City attempted to reverse their poor form at the King Power Stadium, which has seen them slip to seventh in the Premier League in what turned out to be a disastrous title defence.
They took an early lead through Savinho’s first league goal for the champions, after Foxes back-up goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk parried Phil Foden’s effort straight at the winger.
And they screamed for the chance to add another chance to their tally when De Bruyne found himself on the deck following a challenge from Jannik Vestergaard – although replays showed he went down a little too easily and Michael Oliver waved away calls.
A VAR check showed the decision was approved as replays showed the Belgian falling to the ground with very little or no contact.
And Neville, on commentary during Sky Sport’s coverage of the match, pulled no punches with his analysis of the incident.
“He went down too easily,” Marcel began. “You can tell it was awkward the way he fell.
“You can see he dived from here. He should probably get a yellow card, he’s tired of cheating the referee. But I wasn’t completely against any of my teammates diving, so I’ll just…
Back in the starting XI, however, he played a key role in Savinho’s opener, volleying towards Foden to shoot after being picked out by Rico Lewis.
It was his first start since December 15, with the now 33-year-old midfielder, who has been struggling with his fitness for a long time.
He mainly lined up in central midfield and often drifted into the right half-space, or channel, in an attempt to create chances.
Guardiola said of his man before kick-off: ‘We want the best of our players to be fit and play well. We are happy with Kevin. Hopefully he can play like he does.”