Manchester City suffered a huge dent in their top four aspirations as they were held to a 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough. Expected to win the contest, it came as a huge shock to the fans as the Citizens had to come back from a goal down on two occasions in the game.
However, they certainly would not have come away with anything from the game wouldn’t it have been for Leroy Sane’s cheeky dive in the 18-yard-area which saw the referee award City a penalty to make it 1-1.
Marten de Roon committed a clean tackle on the German, but the attacker decided to fall to the ground without any real contact and saw Sergio Aguero equalise from the resulting penalty.
Fans on Twitter, however, were having none of it:
Marcus Rashford and Leroy Sane are the first 2 players to ever dive to get a penalty
— ? (@FlNANDINHO) May 1, 2017
Embarrassed for you mate.. @LeroySane19
— Craig198 (@bartrumus1986) May 1, 2017
Marcus Rashford and Leroy Sane should both have retrospective 3 match bans for diving. Until @FA get tough on diving it will only increase.
— James Hampson (@jahampson) May 1, 2017
@LeroySane19 @sterling7 @ManCity Cheat #Embarassing
— Greg Keenan (@GkBoro69) May 1, 2017
@GazetteBoro @StanCollymore The previous 34 games is what has relegated us but Kevin Friend and Leroy Sane took away our fighting chance by cheating. Should be stopped!
— David Wilson (@dwils26) May 1, 2017
That dive was terrible against us @LeroySane19
— Rhys Brook (@rhysbrook) May 1, 2017
'A cynical dive, he took the easy option': Stan Collymore slams Manchester City's Leroy Sane https://t.co/CXexDDxzMs
— TeessideTimes (@Teesside_Times) May 1, 2017
@SkyFootball What about leroy sane did you not see that dive? it was an absolute disgrace for the referee to give it aswell.. football dead with this FA
— Oli Magson (@OliMagson57) May 1, 2017
Leroy Sané was also going down before making contact in City's penalty and then Kevin Friend gives a red for it. Sickening to watch.
— Andre Huisamen (@andrehuisamen) May 1, 2017
Video technology has to come in next season @LeroySane19 's cheating hasn't cost us PL status but it's ended any chance we had. #boro #mcfc
— Daniel Crowe (@DannyCrowe) May 1, 2017
This result all but confirmed Boro’s relegation and kept Manchester City slightly ahead of Manchester United in the race for the top four. The Citizens are now equal on points with third-placed Liverpool, having played the same number of games.
Boro leading Manchester City. Seems a determination amongst the top clubs to allow Arsenal to finish 4th.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 30, 2017
?? @gabrieljesus33 has been directly involved in 5️⃣ goals in his 4 #PL starts for @ManCity – 4 goals & 1 assist #MIDMCI pic.twitter.com/4XiP7lludE
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 1, 2017
Gabriel Jesus for @ManCity:
? Games: 7
⚽️ Goals: 4
? Assists: 2
? Offside Celebrations: 2Star in the making ???? pic.twitter.com/qn9IOuWHqM
— SPORF (@Sporf) April 30, 2017
Arsène Wenger sent Chambers to Middlesbrough on loan to score against Manchester City! Arsenal can make top four!
— Arsenal (@tomgunner14) April 30, 2017
That old stat: Manchester City haven't won a Premier League AWAY game they've been losing at half-time since April 1995.
— City Watch (@City_Watch) April 30, 2017