The full-back claimed that United’s Danny Welbeck could have caused serious injury following his first half tackle on Zabaleta and said the tackle (for which he was booked) was “very dangerous”.
Zabaleta spoke following the game: “I was very lucky because I could have broken my leg,”. He was then on the receiving end of a Marouane Fellaini elbow and the Argentine claimed that the Belgian midfielder was lucky to escape with only a yellow.
The 29 year old went on to say: “They were two bad challenges,
“I saw them on TV in the dressing room. The first one was a very dangerous tackle by Welbeck,
“The second one was an elbow by Fellaini. It was also a red card but at the end of the day we should respect the referee’s decision.”
Manchester City comfortably beat their derby rivals 3-0 following two goals from Edin Dzeko,one after just 44 seconds and the other in the 56th minute before Yaya Toure finished off the scoring. This result sees City up to second, three points behind Chelsea with still two games in hand. For United however, they remain 7th, now twelve points off fourth place and with crucial games coming up in April.
By Phil Wellbrook
