Credit: Manh Tung, Breaking Media

Evan Lloyd

Sat 4 April 2026 15:40, UK

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Manchester City beat Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to progress to the semi-final of the FA Cup.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring from the spot in the 39th minute after Nico O’Reilly had been taken down by Virgil van Dijk inside the box.

He would add his and Man City’s second just seconds before the break, heading home Antoine Semenyo’s cross brilliantly, before the provider turned scorer with a chip after half-time.

As Liverpool chased the game, the home side broke through again, with O’Reilly finding Haaland for his hat-trick.

As always, the referee was often the centre of attention throughout the game, with Michael Oliver the man in the middle on Saturday.

Here, Football Insider outlines three decisions the referee got wrong as Man City beat Liverpool.

Rayan Cherki denied an early penalty

Oliver has been involved in several controversies this season, and there was an early one as Man City got back into the game on Saturday.

Liverpool enjoyed a strong start but faced a problem when Haaland powered his way through the back-line and played the ball back across.

Rayan Cherki, on the edge, touched the ball inside Milos Kerkez but appeared to be taken down by the Hungarian.

Oliver was not interested, however, and neither was the VAR, much to the shock of the Frenchman and the home crowd.

Replays showed a stunned Pep Guardiola in the stands for a moment that Man City really should have had a penalty for.

Michael Oliver ignores blatant Antoine Semenyo handball

It was Liverpool’s turn to be confused and incensed by a decision just 10 minutes later.

With the ball bouncing towards the touchline, Semenyo reached up and caught it, though it was clearly still on the pitch.

Liverpool players stretched out their arms and looked towards Oliver, expecting a routine yellow card for a deliberate handball.

Bizarrely, however, the referee elected to let the game continue from a throw-in, and took no further action against Semenyo.

While ultimately a meaningless moment, Oliver’s decision to ignore a blatant yellow card raised further questions.

Oliver denies Man City cherry on top

In the final minute of stoppage time, Man City looked to break forward once more to put the cap on their performance with a fifth goal.

Bernardo Silva looked to pass inside, with Omar Marmoush beginning his run through on goal.

But before the ball could reach him, Oliver got in the way of the pass inside, dummying the Man City midfielder and allowing Liverpool to steal in.

It was a messy moment from the experienced official, on day in which he had more than he would have liked.