Pep Guardiola Left Seething With VAR After Man City Denied Late Penalty Against Crystal Palace

​Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was furious that his side were denied a late penalty in their 2-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, quipping that Kevin De Bruyne must have dived following his collision with Wilfried Zaha.

It was just after the hour mark when De Bruyne appeared to be hauled down by Zaha inside the penalty area, with the Ivory Coast international putting two hands on City's talisman before pushing him to the ground.

The Video Assistant Referee checked the incident but deemed there wasn't a clear and obvious error, something which left Guardiola sarcastically berating De Bruyne for diving at Selhurst Park.

"He’s diving. Every week he’s diving," Guardiola joked, quoted by The Sun. "But against Tottenham, it was a handball in the 94th minute."

The handball Guardiola was referring to was in relation to Gabriel Jesus' last-minute goal against Tottenham earlier this season, which was chalked off by the VAR after it was adjudged that Aymeric Laporte had handled the ball in the build-up to the goal.

That incident itself came just months after City were knocked out of the Champions League by Tottenham, where the VAR again ruled out a potential late winner as Sergio Agüero was offside earlier in the move.

It wasn't all doom and gloom for Guardiola, however, as he was eager to highlight City's makeshift centre-back partnership of Rodri and Fernandinho.

"Our build-up was quicker because they pass the ball so well as they’re central midfielders," he added. "Rodri did not train one day in that position. Thank you so much to both of them because it’s difficult to play against strikers like Crystal Palace have."

Manchester City will now take a breather from Premier League football as they prepare to host Serie A surprise package Atalanta in the Champions League group stages.

City are top of Group C after winning their opening two games while Atalanta, who threw away a three-goal lead against Lazio on Saturday, still haven't registered their first point in the Champions League this season.

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