Pellegrini hits out at officials after first-leg loss

Manuel Pellegrini blasted the performance of the officials after Manchester City lost 2-1 to Everton in the League Cup semi-final first leg. City will head into the second leg with work to do after Romelu Lukaku's 78th-minute header settled Wednesday's entertaining encounter at Goodison Park.

Manuel Pellegrini was disappointed not to see a penalty awarded to City by referee Robert Madley in the second half when Kevin Mirallas looked to haul down Navas in the area.

Manuel Pellegrini blasted the performance of the officials after Manchester City lost 2-1 to Everton in the League Cup semi-final first leg.

City will head into the second leg with work to do after Romelu Lukaku's 78th-minute header settled Wednesday's entertaining encounter at Goodison Park.

Jesus Navas had cancelled out Ramiro Funes Mori's first-half opener two minutes earlier but City could not level for a second time despite Everton playing the closing stages with 10 men due to an injury to Seamus Coleman, leaving Pellegrini to fume at a pair of key decisions.

The Chilean felt Lukaku - who was standing in an offside position when Ross Barkley fired a shot that Willy Caballero parried into the path of Funes Mori for the opener - should have been flagged by the linesman.

And he was disappointed not to see a penalty awarded to City by referee Robert Madley in the second half when Kevin Mirallas looked to haul down Navas in the area.

He told Sky Sports: "He's [Lukaku] absolutely offside. It's unbelievable the referee or the linesman didn't give that offside.

"It's [the Mirallas challenge] a foul inside the box, he doesn't touch the ball, it's a clear penalty.

"We didn't deserve to lose. In the second half we have a clear penalty and two chances more to score. It was very important not to concede another goal."