MANCHESTER CITY fans were to blame for Bernardo Silva's penalty miss against Real Madrid according to former England stars Rio Ferdinand and Joleon Lescott.
Pep Guardiola's side crashed out of the Champions League following a 4-3 defeat on penalties to Los Blancos on Wednesday.
Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic both missed spot-kicks for City at the Etihad Stadium.
Silva's attempt was deemed particularly bad, with some fans even branding it the "worst penalty" they had ever seen.
However, Ferdinand and Lescott believed the City fans behind the goal were to blame for his botched effort.
Speaking on TNT Sports, ex-Man City star Lescott claimed the home supporters held onto the ball for too long after Luka Modric fired his shot into the stands.
He said: "That would have just took him out of sync and out of his rhythm.
"You can practice the routine, the technique, the walk up potentially, this is something you don't prepare for, the ball being in the crowd."
Ferdinand chimed in: "40 seconds by the way Joleon," before Lescott continued: "That is a long time. It may not seem that long but it's a very long time when you are waiting there and you are thinking, now do I change position?
"Now do I change where I go? And all of a sudden, it's a soft penalty."
Manchester United legend Ferdinand went on to say: "It's a shame though as well, because it is the home fans that are delaying that penalty kick which is a shame."
Fans on social media were also convinced the Man City supporters were to blame for Silva's miss.
One person took to X to write: "City fans not giving the ball back to Bernardo Silva will go down in history - if football fans did own goals."
Another commented: "How must the Man City fan who kept hold of the ball before Bernardo Silva's penalty be feeling now."
While a third wrote: "City fans screwed themselves over holding onto the ball as long as they did before Bernardo Silva’s pen!"
The Champions League quarter-final clash went to penalties with the score at 4-4 on aggregate after extra time.
Speaking after the match, Guardiola said: "It is what is – sometimes you win on penalties and sometimes not. We should have done it before – for how we played.
"I absolutely don’t have any regrets – we did everything offensively and defensively.
"Football is about scoring goals and they did it a little bit better than us from the penalty spot. They are in the semi-finals and we are not.
"I have to say from my heart, thank you to my players."
Nam_So
597
I know Man City had the ball and this and that, but the way Real Madrid defending was just astonishing." There is something called defending. You can control the game defending well. I know people will say City was the best team, but defending is part of the game. I think the best team, the team that defended well, went through We lose as a team and win as a team💙💙💙 Cityzens for life
MikaelGuerrer0
408
Imagine home game advantage being a disadvantage 😂
Zayblnprs
407
If you blame fans for Bernado Silva's missed Penalty...who do you blame for Mateo Kovacic missed penalty?....Maybe LESCOTT & FERDINAND will blame Rudiger for that Kovacic missed penalty. Lose is lose irrespective of how it came upon Man City. Had Silva scored, the Pundits would have put it that...the City fans holding unto the Ball helped confuse Lunin and Calm Bernando Silva.....Yeye Pundit
ManCityFanForever
398
Respect for Treble winners. Who didn't wait for counter attacks to score rather played like Men🔥
boy_daza
396
Man city started to put themselves in the barca positions. They thought we are stupid to allow foden shooting outside the box. Now all the english teams got something to learn about from BOSS ANCELLOTI, A LEGENDARY coach, They always say when you go and defend against city, you are going to concede a rain of goals. Where are those goals now😂😂😂. GUARDIOLA is not a legendary coach, he is coward who hides behind a wealth team to achieve great. A good coach is like what ALONSO doing right now REVERKUSEN, BIELSA, CRUYF and FERGUSON