Mateu referee for City-Liverpool despite Guardiola complaints
The Manchester City manager does not have fond memories of Spanish official Antonio Mateu Lahoz, but that is who will be in charge for the crunch Champions League game.
Antonio Mateu Lahoz will be in charge for Tuesday night's game between Manchester City and Liverpool, which will decide who goes through from the Champions League quarter finals. And the Spanish referee has been appointed in spite of City manager Pep Guardiola's cristicism of a recent encounter.
Referee Lahoz to take charge
The runaway Premier League champions-elect come into this second leg needing everything to be perfect and hoping that their Merseyside guests have an off-night following The Reds' 3-0 victory at Anfield last Wednesday. The decision to put Mateu Lahoz in charge may not, therefore, be to the liking of Guardiola after the manager's comments about the actions he took with the whistle in last season's match against Monaco.
The coach was talking after the Anfield first leg and compared the performance of German referee Felix Brych on the night to that of Mateu Lahoz which resulted in City being eliminated by the French club.
Guardiola remembers Monaco decisions
"I remember what happened last year. We were 1-1 at home against Monaco when there was a clear penalty to [Sergio] Agüero and a red card that a Spanish referee [Mateu Lahoz] did not whistle for.
"We went from a possible 2-1 to 1-2. These types of situations are really important."
Although City went on to win that particular game (as they have done in the other two games when Lahoz has been in charge) they went out of the Champions League over the two legs. The single occasion when the Spaniard was whistling for a Liverpool game came in the 2014/15 campaign against Ludogorets which ended 2-2 in the group stages.
