Roberto Mancini was left to bemoan a couple of refereeing calls that went against Manchester City after seeing Liverpool go through to the Carling Cup final.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, City had a lot of work to do at Anfield and opened the scoring thanks to Nigel de Jong's stunning strike from distance.
Steven Gerrard's penalty swung the tie back in Liverpool's favour, before Edin Dzeko scored from Aleksandar Kolarov's cross.
Craig Bellamy then grabbed the final goal of the night to eliminate City from the competition and send the Reds to a Wembley meeting with Cardiff.
While Liverpool dominated for long periods, Mancini felt the game hinged on two penalty decisions.
Referee Phil Dowd handed Liverpool a spot-kick when the ball reared up off Micah Richards' boot and hit his hand, but did not award one when Dzeko went down under Charlie Adam's challenge at the other end.
"We did a good performance, scored two goals. I think it was not a penalty for Liverpool and was for us. This changed the game," the Italian said.
"He (Richards) touched the ball on his leg, for this reason (it was not a penalty)."
When asked why his players did not vociferously appeal for a foul on Dzeko, Mancini added: "There is a referee on the pitch. It is enough.
"It was a penalty, incredible, clear. We did well, scored, we did some mistakes and conceded a stupid goal.
"We can do nothing."
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