City boss Hughes upset as United winger Ronaldo escapes ban

26 February 2009 02:11
Manchester City[LNB]welcome back Shaun Wright-Phillips for tonight's UEFA Cup home tie against FC Copenhagen as his three-match ban for kicking out at Stoke's Rory Delap does not apply in Europe.[LNB]But City boss Mark Hughes is annoyed at what he sees as inconsistency among referees after Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo was not sent off for a similar offence against Blackburn's David Dunn at the weekend. [LNB]Hughes said: 'We were disappointed Shaun got the three games as we felt there were mitigating circumstances. There seems to have been similar situations in recent days that haven't been punished as hard.[LNB] Kick out: Ronaldo's kick at David Dunn has gone unpunished whereas Shaun Wright-Phillips was banned for three matches for a similar offence[LNB] MAN CITY v Copenhagen: City star Kompany to miss Danish test[LNB]Hart vows to force himself back into Man City and England reckoning[LNB]MANCHESTER CITY FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE WEB[LNB][LNB]'The opportunity to retrace steps on that one has been missed. The referee (in the United game) has obviously said he's seen it at the time and didn't think it merited a sending-off. We felt hard done by, we made our feelings known, but there we go. 'Different referees will have a different response to situations. That's the top and bottom of it. You'd need to speak to the referees and find out why their interpretations were different.'City drew the first leg in Copenhagen 2-2 and midfielder Vincent Kompany will have another injection in a troublesome toe today to get through a game that City must win — or draw 0-0 or 1-1 — to reach the last 16. Hughes added: 'We know what's ahead. 'If we overcome Copenhagen we're likely to play another Danish side in Aalborg. [LNB] Holding role: high jinks as City show how to stop Robinho[LNB]'They had a great result against Deportivo in the first leg of their tie. 'If we get through we'll be facing a good side but there's others who would be seen as stronger — so why shouldn't we keep going?' City chiefs will watch the performance of executive chairman Garry Cook until the end of the season in the wake of the Kaka transfer affair. Sportsmail understands that owner Sheik Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak were disappointed at the manner in which Cook and his aides handled the attempt to do a £100million deal with AC Milan for the Brazilian. Cook's position is not under immediate threat. Indeed, he has been given the go-ahead to appoint his former Nike colleague Brian Marwood as 'football administrator'.City have signed Faroe Island Under 21 goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen, 22, on a two-and-a-half-year deal. [LNB] [LNB]  

Source: Daily_Mail