Steven Gerrard took aim at two Real Madrid players during their Champions League defeat to Manchester City.
Man City boosted their hopes of automatic qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League and piled the pressure on struggling Real boss Xabi Alonso with a 2-1 win on the Bernabeu.
Rodrygo rifled the hosts ahead midway through the primary half but Man City scored twice in quick succession to steer on the break.
Nico O’Reilly prodded home after Real Madrid didn’t take care of a corner before Erling Haaland scored a penalty after he was bundled over by Antonio Rudiger.
Real Madrid pushed for an equaliser within the second half but Man City kept the Spanish giants at bay to climb to fourth within the Champions League table.
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With the top-eight advancing mechanically to the knockout stages of the Champions League, Pep Guardiola’s side are in a powerful position ahead of their final two games.
But Real Madrid’s second European defeat of the season leaves the La Liga side eighth and increases the pressure on Alonso, with reports suggesting his job would in danger should they lose to Man City.
Gerrard was highly critical of Real Madrid’s defending against the Premier League giants, slamming Alvaro Carreras for his role in Man City’s opener and describing Rudiger’s foul for the Haaland penalty as ‘silly’.
‘It’s really poor from Real Madrid throughout,’ Gerrard said on TNT Sports when analysing Manchester City’s first goal on the Bernabeu.
‘Jude Bellingham loses the primary duel, he gets beat within the air. The keeper [Thibaut Courtois] is poor with the save but Carreras… you can’t allow a player that space within the box.
‘Carreras is looking across the stadium – I don’t know what he’s searching for because his man has got two or three yards of space to tap into the goal.
‘You can’t switch off like that and ball-watch and permit any Man City player the liberty to tap in.’
Fellow pundit Joleon Lescott said he was ‘not surprised’ Rudiger penalised for a ‘naive’ tackle as he ‘loves contact’.
Ex-Liverpool captain Gerrard then added: ‘It’s silly [from Rudiger]. Xabi Alonso has an enormous problem because Man City are winning this game and haven’t got out of second gear.
‘They proved in the last ten minutes of the primary half that they can’t defend.
‘We’ve given Rudiger credit many a time because he’s an awesome man-marker, he likes to get physical and put forwards off by getting tight.
‘But that is silly – you possibly can’t try this within the box with VAR, he was never going to get away with that. It was a blatant penalty.’
Speaking at full-time, Gerrard continued: ‘I actually expected more from Real Madrid. I used to be disillusioned by them.
‘Man City deserved the three points however it wasn’t a performance from a team [Real Madrid] that suggests they need the manager out.
‘But they did lose the large moments in the sport, like Rudiger’s stupidity for the penalty, and Man City thoroughly deserved the win.’
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