Man City vs Newcastle ref watch: ‘Scandalous’ Phil Foden incident among decisions Tony Harrington got wrong

Manchester City booked their place at Wembley for the Carabao Cup final with a 3-1 win over Newcastle United on Wednesday night.

Pep Guardiola’s side held a 2-0 advantage from the opening leg at St James Park, and they promptly put their visitors to the sword at the Etihad Stadium in midweek.

Omar Marmoush netted twice for City in the early stages, before Tijani Reinders hit a third to have the tie all but over by half-time.

Anthony Elanga got Newcastle on the scoresheet in the second half, but it was a tale of missed chances for Eddie Howe’s side as they were denied the chance to defend their Carabao Cup trophy in the final.

Referee Tony Harrington had a busy evening at the centre of the action, and with that in mind, Football Insider rounds up five mistakes that the official made during the 90 minutes.

Newcastle unlucky not to win first-half penalty

Manchester City fans have made their concerns over Matheus Nunes known already this season, as guardiola continues to use him as an auxiliary right-back.

The Portuguese was shown a yellow card in the first half for dragging down Lewis Hall in a promising position, and his half almost went from bad to worse on the verge of half-time.

Nunes jumped to block a Newcastle cross after a short corner during first-half stoppage time, and the ball struck his arm from close range.

Despite the City man having almost no time to react, it could certainly have been argued that his arm was in an unnatural position, raised towards his head when the ball struck him.

Harrington awarded a corner kick on the pitch, and the incident was briefly checked by VAR, with Newcastle’s appeals waved away.

Fans have become used to inconsistencies in the way that the handball law is applied by officials, and this was certainly an incident that should have had Nunes counting himself lucky.

Max Alleyne fortunate to escape penalty decision

Max Alleyne has been recalled by Manchester City and thrown straight into the first-team squad in recent weeks, and he was at the centre of attention again in a key moment of the second half.

The young defender miscontrolled the ball inside his own penalty area, allowing Yoane Wissa to steal in and get his body between Alleyne and the ball.

The City youngster then grabbed at the Newcastle forward as he attempted to escape his clutches and get a shot away at goal.

Alleyne appeared to drag his opponent to the floor, but that view was not shared by Harrington or the VAR team.

Newcastle can certainly count themselves unlucky to have not received a penalty for either of their appeals on Wednesday night, and this was another incident that could be filed under the ‘seen them given’ category.

Harrington makes scandalous call over early Phil Foden foul

Phil Foden has been a major influence for Manchester City in recent weeks, and he was a thorn in the side of Newcastle all night on Wednesday.

The England international was at his energetic and threatening best throughout his time on the pitch, and he tried to set the tone for his team with an eye-catching challenge in the early stages.

Foden slid in to beat Hall to a loose ball in the middle of the pitch, but caught his opponent as he followed through after playing the ball.

Harrington awarded a free-kick to the visitors after Hall leapt into the air following the challenge, before giving the City man a talking to after his tackle.

However, Foden won the ball cleanly and was clearly first into the 50/50 by some distance, and his follow-through could not have been deemed as dangerous to Hall at all, with his studs angled downwards.

Harrington had no need to award a free-kick for the challenge, and it set the tone for several more poor decisions as the game went on.

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