The agent of volatile Italian striker Mario Balotelli on Tuesday accused England's leading referee Howard Webb of lying over the alleged headstamping by his player on Scott Parker in Sunday's Premier League game between Manchester City and Spurs. Webb said that if he had seen the incident he would have sent the City player off.

"I am very angry with the referee, because he lied," Ballotelli's agent Mino Raiola told Italian station Radio Radio. "The TV images clearly show that the referee is no more than a metre away and that he is looking towards the incident, how can he say that he did not see what he was looking at?"