Roberto Mancini apologised for brandishing an imaginary card after Martin Skrtel had brought down Yaya Toure in the box.
City extend their lead at the top of the table by three points
Roberto Mancini apologised for brandishing an imaginary card at the referee after Martin Skrtel had brought down Yaya Toure in the box late on in Manchester City's 3-0 victory over Liverpool.
Match referee Mike Jones had dismissed City midfielder Gareth Barry moments earlier for a second bookable offence.
And the Italian was clearly trying to get Jones to even up the score as he waved an imaginary card frantically on the touchline after he had awarded the penalty.
However, the City chief was quick to try and draw a line under the incident after the game.
Referee
"In the moment I did what I did but I was not happy with the referee," he told
Sky Sports.
"When you play, during the game sometimes you can do something in the game that you regret, but in that moment I did not agree with the referee."
City had stuttered of late but this 3-0 win courtesy of goals from Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and James Milner saw them move three points clear of second placed Manchester United.
However, when it was suggested this result sent out a message that they are back to their best, Mancini insisted he just wants them to keep focusing on their own results.
Concentrate
"I think we that we should concentrate on ourselves and not about sending out messages," he added.
"For us, it's important to try and win every game because we know if we want to win the Barclays Premier League we have to be very, very strong because we play against teams like Liverpool, United and Tottenham.
"I think in the first half we played well, and in the second half for 20 minutes we might have been tired.
"But also Liverpool are a fantastic team and a strong team. They pushed in the first 20 minutes in the second half but we deserved to win this game."
