“Acting like a big shot” – Manchester City star’s fury at referee revealed

Gianluigi Donnarumma endured the worst night of his Manchester City career so far on Wednesday.

The Citizens fell to a disastrous 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid and Donnarumma struggled for the entirety of the 90 minutes. He stopped a penalty that saved the Citizens’ blushes but made a fair amount of errors throughout the match.

The first goal was clearly his fault and arguably, the Italian could have come off his line early for Federico Valverde’s third goal too.

The 26-year-old was also at fault for giving away the penalty that he ended up saving, and was given a yellow card for it.

The goalkeeper’s performance caught the attention of the Italian media, who are never too far from the ex-AC Milan player.

Donnarumma in heated exchange with ref

TuttoSport today note that the Manchester City player wasn’t happy with Italian referee Maurizio Mariani. This was true when he was booked for the foul that led to the penalty.

The goalkeeper told the official: “Why are you acting like a big shot? You’re acting like a big shot.”

It didn’t end there, as Donnarumma further said after staying silent for some seconds: “Why are you giving me a yellow card?”

TuttoSport also go on to relay the player’s comments to Sky Italia after the loss. He appeared hopeful of an unlikely comeback in the second leg at the Etihad.

“We have to play a completely different game in the return leg. I’m disappointed because we lost badly, but we’re playing at home and hope to turn the situation around.” 

Donnarumma expressed faith in Manchester City fans to help them turn things around.

“With our fans, it will definitely be different. They have to give us an unprecedented boost, but they will definitely do it because they are special.”

Manchester City need more from Donnarumma

The Italy international has been one of Manchester City’s best players in the Premier League. On a crucial night at the Bernabeu though, things fell flat and the goalkeeper will have to be on his best form in the second leg.

He is no stranger to coming up with big performances, having done it for Italy and Paris Saint-Germain last season. It is important to remember that Real Madrid aren’t in their best shape before the second leg.

Their season has been filled with ups and downs and it would be foolish to rule out a Manchester City comeback. If anything close to that happens, Donnarumma’s penalty save off Vinicius Jr can become an important contribution in itself.