Manchester City can have no complaints with Paul Tierney for disallowing Sergio Aguero’s goal that would have put them 2-0 up.
At any free-kick, the referee will ask the attacking team if they want to take it quickly.
If that offer is declined, the referee will mark the defensive wall. The attacking team then have to wait for the referee’s whistle before they can take the free-kick.
On Tuesday night, Tierney clearly showed his whistle to De Bruyne — a technique referees use to tell players to wait for the restart. But De Bruyne took it quickly and was booked.
Tierney also made the right call in the 61st minute when he did not show De Bruyne a second yellow card — his foul on Matt Ritchie merited nothing more than a free-kick.
But City boss Pep Guardiola took off the playmaker a few minutes later as he knew one more bad tackle could see De Bruyne sent off.
