Patrick Vieira, Manchester City Official, Claims Manchester United Gain Refereeing 'Advantage'

Vieira - United Get What They Want

Patrick Vieira, Manchester City's football development executive, has claimed rivals Manchester United benefit from refereeing decisions at Old Trafford.

United appeared to get away with conceding a penalty in Monday night's 1-0 win against Fulham when Michael Carrick felled Danny Murphy.

Despite the Reds conceding the second most amount of penalties at home in the Premier League this season, Vieira is adamant they benefit from favouritism.

He told BBC Sport: "When United play at home they get some advantage that other teams don't get.

"I think when you go to United, Madrid, Barcelona, or Milan, when the referees referee these kind of games, it's always difficult to go against these kind of teams. This is the way it is.

"It's something the teams who are used to winning get all the time, so we need to win games so we have this advantage in the future."

City themselves were not penalised against Stoke City on Saturday when Gareth Barry trod on Greg Whelan in the penalty area.

Vieira claimed before last weekend's fixtures United had shown "weakness" in bringing Paul Scholes out of retirement. He was ridiculed by Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who stated at his press conference City themselves were "desperate" in bringing back Carlos Tevez after his five months in exile.

Speaking at a Soccerex conference in Manchester, the 35-year-old also insisted City deserved to win the league this season.

"This is our moment. Since the start of the season we've been the best team and played the best football.

"I believe the club deserves it [the Premier League title]."

City are three points behind United with eight games remaining. The duo face one another at the Etihad Stadium in the fourth Manchester derby of the season.

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