Roberto Mancini has confirmed the club will be appealing against Mario Balotelli's red card at West Brom.
City boss confirms club are to appeal striker's dismissal
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has confirmed the club will be appealing against Mario Balotelli's red card at West Brom.
The 20-year-old tasted the joy of football when he netted his first Premier League goals to put Mancini's side firmly on top at The Hawthorns.
But he was then given his marching orders on 63 minutes following a tangle with Youssouf Mulumbu in which he appeared to kick out at the West Brom player, who was also dismissed late on for a late challenge on Carlos Tevez.
But Mancini did not agree with straight red card shown to Balotelli - who had been booked just three minutes previously - and the City boss has been left wanting an explanation from referee Lee Probert.
"I absolutely do not agree with the referee about this sending-off," Mancini said.
"A red card for what? He played a fantastic game, he scored two goals, but the sending off was very strange.
"I want to know why it was a direct red card. For me this is not correct and the referee must explain."
Matter further
He confirmed City will be pursuing the matter further, with the City boss rejecting suggestions that the player may have kicked out at Mulumbu.
But he did admit to having a chat with Balotelli before the game about keeping calm and revealed he had been about to withdraw him from an increasingly tempestuous game when the sending-off occurred.
"I am angry because I explained to him before the game - pay attention with the referee," Mancini said.
"I wanted to change Adam Johnson for Mario, but I didn't have time to make the change."
Despite the sending off, Mancini was pleased with the result and return of skipper Carlos Tevez.
"Today we played a fantastic game - we played football very well, all the team," Mancini said.
"We scored two goals and we could have scored another two. For us, Carlos is very important up front. Today I am very happy with the result."
