Manchester City's Aguero believes domestic players receive 'privilege' from referees

Oct 1, 2012 8:20:00 AM

The Argentine accused officials of being biased against foreign imports, after Fulham were awarded a controversial penalty on Saturday and the Blues had appeals turned down

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero believes English players receive favourable treatment from referees compared to foreign players.

City conceded a controversial penalty within ten minutes against Fulham on Saturday, converted by Mladen Petric, when Pablo Zabaleta was judged to have fouled John Arne Riise – a decision which the striker branded as "wrong".

The Premier League champions went on to win 2-1 after Aguero scored just before half-time and Edin Dzeko netted a late winner, but referee Mark Halsey denied penalty appeals from Zabaleta and Tevez over the course of the match.

Aguero told reporters: "I try not to get involved with problems involving referees. There is a little bit of privilege with players who come from that country [England] but that is normal.

"We just play our game and the referee's job is to know who is tricking him and who is not.

"Here in England, there are almost as many foreign players as English players and it's not right that some have a privilege that others don't."

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