Everton's Martinez left fuming at officials after Capital One Cup woe as Man City benefit

Roberto Martinez vented his anger last night at the refereeing mistake which he claimed "killed" the prospect of an all-Merseyside Capital One Cup final and helped propel Manchester City to Wembley.

 

Everton led 3-1 on aggregate after Ross Barkley opened the scoring but City prevailed

 

The Everton manager hit out at the match officials after they failed to spot Raheem Sterling running the ball out of play when he set up Kevin de Bruyne in the 70th minute for a goal which gave City a 2-1 lead and levelled the scores on aggregate.

Sergio Aguero then scored with a header seven minutes later to seal a 3-1 win and a 4-3 success over two legs, to set up a showdown with Liverpool on February 28.

"When the ball is out of play in the modern game, you don't expect that to be missed," said Martinez.

"When it ends up the second goal, you can imagine the major blow it has in our feelings, our performance and our chances to get through.

"The second goal affected too much the outcome of us reaching Wembley or not. That is why it hurts. The second goal killed our opportunity.

 

"You don't mind if Manchester City find a way of being outstanding and scoring three goals. It is very difficult to find an explanation in the dressing room and for the players to find a reason why we have been knocked out. That is hurtful and unfair.

"We want to make sure we pay our fans back and take them to Wembley this season.

"You feel so hurt because there are have been a few big decisions that have not gone in our favour. It is affecting our results too much."

Everton had added to their first leg advantage with an early Ross Barkley goal, but Fernandinho launched City's comeback and Pellegrini dismissed Martinez's complaints.

 

"Maybe it was a mistake of the referee, but I think Everton cannot complain about the referee," he said. "We lost at Goodison with a clear offside for the first goal, there was a clear penalty for Jesus Navas that was not given.

"We drew here in the league when there was a clear penalty on Aguero. One mistake against four or five mistakes. I think we had two shots on the post and were the better team.

"I am very happy to play a final at Wembley, it is very important."

De Bruyne was taken off an a stretcher in the closing stages, but Pellegrini insisted he had not suffered damage to his cruciate knee ligament.

"It is very difficult to know in this moment, but I am optimistic he will not be out for the rest of the season," said Pellegrini. "It is not a cruciate ligament, it is the medial ligament."