JOSE MOURINHO was furious after Raheem Sterling didn’t pick up a second yellow for trying to win a penalty.
The Spurs boss hadn’t realised the City star was already on a yellow until his assistant told him.
Mourinho jumped out of his chair and raced to the fourth official to complain about the incident, although it achieved very little.
Despite the protests, Spurs did go on to win the match 2-0 thanks to a superb strike from Steven Bergwijn on his debut and a deflected finish from Son Heung-Min.
The incident happened immediately after Ilkay Gundogan had missed a penalty.
Hugo Lloris saved and as Sterling went to score the rebound, he fell to the ground claiming Lloris had fouled him.
VAR was in use to assess the potential foul, but decided there wasn’t enough contact to award a penalty.
Mike Dean did not show a second yellow to Sterling for diving, leaving Mourinho enraged and leaping towards the fourth official.
Mourinho had already been angry that the first yellow card on Sterling did not warrant a red.
He said post-match: “With a few draws of people in the same area of the table as us, it was very important to get three points. We still have an eye on fourth. It was a match where you know the quality of the opponent. You want to win, but you can lose. I’m delighted with the boys.
“Only [VAR] Kevin Friend can explain why it was not a red card [for Raheem Sterling]. He has the chance to watch again. That decision would change the game. It would probably not be such an enjoyable game, one team with one player more for an hour is a big advantage. I think it’s a clear red card.”
However, City did have a man sent off not long into the second half.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was shown a second yellow after a cynical foul on Harry Winks.
inks was racing into City’s half on the counter was brought down by the Ukranian who barged him out the way to stop Spurs attacking.
Three minutes later, Bergwijn volleyed into the bottom corner to give Spurs the lead.
The win pushes Spurs up to fifth, four points off the top four.
