Manuel Pellegrini slams referee performance

Manuel Pellegrini has blasted referee Jonas Eriksson after his Manchester City team were beaten 2-0 by Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

Dani Alves scored late on to add to Lionel Messi's penalty following Martin Demichelis's sending-off for a last-ditch foul on the Argentina international, leaving the Chilean coach unhappy with the official's performance.

He told Sky Sports News: "Of course I have a complaint. For the whole match I feel we didn't have a referee who was partial for both teams. It was not a good idea to put a referee from Sweden in charge of such an important game.

"The referee was three metres from a foul [on Jesus Navas], he didn't give it. And it was a foul outside the box [for Demichelis's tackle on Messi].

"I think it was a mistake to nominate a referee who had previously had problems with Barcelona in the past. We had the same referee and once again he made mistakes."

City play Stoke City in the Premier League at the weekend.