Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini was amazed by Sergio Aguero's booking for an apparent dive in victory over Southampton.
Pellegrini described the decision as "unbelievable" - particularly with the identity of the player involved.
"It was a penalty - not a yellow card," he asserted. "I told the referee he must decide whether it was a penalty or not but I was sure it wasn't a yellow card.
"First of all, Sergio never dives. He is a player who always tries to support the match. I know him and he never tries to cheat the referee or dive.
"It proved to be one more important thing about this game. That penalty decision opened it up because it was very close during the first 45 minutes.
"We continued working as a team, defending and attacking until we scored. With one man more, Southampton had to attack which gave us more space. If we have space, there are very dangerous players [to exploit it] - but even before we scored the second and third goals, we had clear chances to score."
