City equalised in the 40th minute after Ritchie de Laet bundled home a rebound following Lawrence Thomas' penalty save from Florin Berenguer's spotkick.

Warren Joyce's side had controversially won the penalty when referee Kurt Ams awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box after Bruno Fornaroli fell under pressure from Raul Baena and Corey Brown.

However, upon further inspection from the VAR, Ams had a second look, noticing the incident occurred inside the penalty area and, despite the apparent minimal contact, had to award a spotkick.

"There's no point me sharing my opinion and getting into trouble," Muscat said.

"Penalty? I'll just go so far to say it's not a foul. Simple as that, it's not a foul.

"It's the initial decison, then we go up and it's clear the three or four players are inside the box."

Muscat didn't criticise Ams solely, instead the VAR process which left his hands tied.

"I'm not pourng this all on Kurt," Muscat said. "Everbody makes mistakes.

"But my understanding is you can only overturn it or not give a foul if it's simulation or if the attacker has gained an unfair advantage.

"I think it was surprise for everybody when a foul was given and they couldn't believe their luck when the penalty was given."

Muscat added that he was impressed with his side's display, particularly upon until the equaliser after Keisuke Honda headed them into a 28th minute lead.

"What I will say is that first 40 minute before that incident, i thought we were outstanding," Muscat said.

"Total domiannice, total control and playing some really attacking and exciting stuff.

"The players began to draw confidence and belief from that. We scored a deserved goal.

"The amount of relentless pressure we were putting them under, then to concede the way we did gave them some momentum."