No point dwelling on penalty call after gutless performance – Shakhtar boss Fonseca

Shakhtar Donetsk boss Paulo Fonseca says he has bigger concerns than an incorrect penalty call following a 6-0 Champions League hammering at Manchester City, criticising his players for a “lack of courage”.

City benefited from a bizarre decision to award a spot-kick after Raheem Sterling had kicked the turf and fallen to the ground in the box, allowing Gabriel Jesus to score the home side’s second and the first goal of his hat-trick.

But the referee Viktor Kassai’s mistake mattered little in the end as City continued to dominate and scored six for the second home match in succession, following Sunday’s 6-1 demolition of Southampton.

The result leaves Shakhtar bottom of Group F and four points adrift of second-placed Lyon with two matches left to play.

“There is no sense in saying anything about that penalty after such a result,” Fonseca told Futbol 2. “We lost because City are a team at another level, much, much better than us.

“We were far from even trying to do anything [to win]. My team didn’t show themselves well. They didn’t show courage and that has disappointed me most of all.

“You may concede six goals, but it’s even worse if you fear your opponents.

“Our biggest problem was fear, lack of courage. That’s why we didn’t try to build our game like we want to do.

“We still have chances to qualify. We need to win our two remaining games and hope for appropriate results in other games. And we have to try and do it. But it will be very difficult to achieve.”