Sterling apologises over Man City penalty against Shakhtar

Raheem Sterling has apologised over the penalty given to Man City as they played Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday [Courtesy]

Raheem Sterling apologised for his bizarre penalty in Manchester City’s record-breaking win.

Referee Viktor Kassai mistakenly awarded City a spot-kick for their second goal when Sterling kicked the ground and fell over.

The England star felt bad and revealed he said sorry to Kassai and Shakhtar after City’s biggest-ever win in Europe.

“I went to chip the ball and I don’t know what happened next,” he said. “I ended up on the floor and turned around.

“I don’t think I felt contact. I hit the floor and scuffed the floor. Apologies to the ref and apologies to Shakhtar.”

Pep Guardiola says he knew instantly it was not a penalty and admitted Sterling might have corrected the referee.

“I realised immediately it wasn’t a penalty,” said the City boss. “We don’t like to score in that situation. Raheem could have said something, yeah.”

Gabriel Jesus scored his first hat-trick for City to leave them needing just a point to qualify for the Champions League last 16 for the sixth successive season.

Referee Viktor Kassai mistakenly awarded City a spot-kick for their second goal when Sterling kicked the ground and fell over [Courtesy]

“I am a very happy man,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have not qualified for the next stage, but we are so close. We want to try to keep this level.”

Shakhtar boss Paulo Fonseca branded Sterling’s penalty “ridiculous”

“Everyone saw it. The penalty for everyone was ridiculous. There is no sense in saying anything about that penalty after such a result. We lost because City are a team at another level, much, much better than us.”