On Wednesday night, I posed a question on Twitter after I saw a video of Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling kicking the ground in comical fashion and somehow being awarded a penalty against Shakhtar Donetsk.

I asked: “Could Sterling, or any other City player nearby, tell the referee it wasn’t a penalty?”

For those who haven’t seen it, referee Viktor Kassai made a blatant error with the decision. He will look back at it and know he made a mistake.

What I found startling was the responses to my question online.

In hindsight, I should have seen the replies coming.

“Why would he do the referee’s job for him?”

“Not his [Sterling’s] place to be honest.”

“Athletes will do everything they can to get an advantage, why should they potentially cost their team a goal?”

It continued and I was dismayed to see that this was the common consensus.

People expect others to lie and cheat, they’ve become immune to it, and that is the world we live in.

We want players to be role models but then have no issue with them taking advantage of certain situations to gain the upper hand.

Sterling wasn’t the only player who could have changed the outcome of the penalty and it was interesting to see how the other City players reacted.

David Silva is seen trying to take the ball off a Donetsk defender.

Asked after about the incident, Silva said: “No, no. I wouldn’t have said anything to the referee.

“Because the next time you may not get a penalty, even a cast-iron one, not given for you. It happens in football.”

That is such a poor excuse. No-one is talking about the next time, it’s about the here and now.

But that was the theme from other people inside the team, why should we say something when others haven’t in the past or won’t in the future?

City boss Pep Guardiola said in his post-match press conference that because City had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside last season, Leroy Sane was deemed offside after the ball was inadvertently played to him by Liverpool midfielder James Milner, Sterling in this scenario “could do that [tell the referee it wasn’t a penalty], yeah. But last season, Liverpool – Milner could say [about] the pass for the second goal in the 44th minute, [that] it was a legal goal.

“He could do that, but of course [referee Antonio] Mateu Lahoz didn’t want to concede that goal, so that’s why it happened.”

It’s somewhat ironic, and perhaps unfortunate, that in the week the Manchester club are alleged to have cheated Uefa and Financial Fair Play, this happens to them.

But what better way to dismiss talk of the club being dishonest and cheats by being truthful on Wednesday night?

Even once the penalty is given, City don’t have to score it.

Gabriel Jesus could have sent the ball over the bar, or told the goalkeeper where he was going and made it easier for him.

Instead he scored and the chance to do the right thing was missed.

Robbie Fowler against Arsenal in 1997 immediately sprang to my mind, as I’m sure it did many others.

Fowler attempted to hurdle then-Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman, fell and the referee awarded a penalty.

Fowler told him it wasn’t a penalty, the referee ignored his protests and Fowler missed the spot-kick, Seaman saving it.

Ironically, Jason McAteer scored the rebound, thus negating Fowler’s attempted fair play.

I get that the desire to win is extremely great, especially at the highest level, but should it come at the expense of doing the right thing?

This wasn’t a World Cup final, or the 90th minute of a title-winning match.

And even if it was, does that excuse someone to cheat?

I’m not expecting players to stop cheating, that’s never going to happen.

Some will always go down clutching their face when a stray hand brushes their neck or chest.

The majority will always claim for a corner or throw when they know the last touch came off them.

It’s become a part of the game which everyone has gotten used to and is the equivalent of a white lie, it’s white cheating.

However, it says a lot about the society we live in that people are defending City’s decision not to be honest.

This wasn’t a dive or handball, where a player deliberately tries to cheat to gain an advantage, and will do everything in their power to get away with it.

Sterling fell over and didn’t try to claim the penalty so when it was given, could have, and should have, explained to the referee what happened.

It’s an extremely subtle difference but a difference none the less from where I’m sitting.

Part of the reason fans, not just City ones, are quick to defend the dishonesty is that with gambling and fantasy sports, every goal, assist, free-kick etc means something to someone.

City not scoring that penalty could have cost someone money, so the team not saying anything is justifiable in their eyes.

If you had City to win by two or more goals, or City to score from a penalty, or whatever else Ray Winston’s floating head has told you to bet on, this injustice put money in your pocket.

It’s no different to having had Sterling or Jesus in your Champions League fantasy team, those assist or goal points could have tipped the scales in your favour this game week.

I saw it a few weeks ago in the National Football League.

Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams had a huge run and instead of scoring a touchdown, fell to the ground early to take time off the clock and secure his side the win by not allowing the opposition, the Green Bay Packers, the chance to get the ball back and score.

The outrage on social media was shocking.

“You cost me fantasy points.”

“I had a bet that you would rush for another touchdown.”

It’s becoming quite a thing, fans taking to social media to berate a player for having a bad game or missing a penalty because of how it affected their fantasy team or accumulator.

NFL players are speaking out against these messages on a more frequent basis, saying they don’t care about fantasy teams and points and that all that matters is that their team gets the win.

I was asked if I would tell a referee if I handled the ball or gave away a penalty and the answer is yes, I would rather win honestly.

I’ve had two examples in the last few weeks where I’ve done the right thing on a football pitch to the detriment of my team.

Firstly, while running the line for my Saturday league side, I missed what turned out to be a clear offside.

My team told me to put the flag up, but where I didn’t see it, I couldn’t give the decision.

The opponent scored to make the game 2-1 to them and that’s how it finished.

My players were rightly furious with me and said that other teams do it against us, so I should have just called for offside.

But I can’t give something I can’t see and regardless of how obvious it may have been, by time I noticed, it was too late.

Secondly, this time while in goal, I rushed off my line and brought down the striker.

Penalty.

Or so I thought.

The referee blew his whistle and gave my team a free-kick.

The opponents were rightfully livid and were screaming for a penalty.

They looked at me and I said: “I fouled him, it’s a penalty.”

The referee heard me and said that it didn’t matter, he was giving a free-kick for offside.

It may not be the Champions League but it’s a competitive game of football and I will always try to do the right thing.

If the official wants to overrule me, and it happens, then what more can I do?

If Sterling had said something and the referee ignored him, then so be it.

But to just allow the person in charge to make the mistake and not correct him because you want to win that badly is disappointing.

The people that think Sterling and co did nothing wrong are likely to be the same people who hate Diego Maradona for the Hand of God against England.

Or would have been furious on social media, calling for him to confess to the handball, had it been around then.

The fact that the large majority feel that by keeping quiet, Sterling and the rest of the City players did the right thing, says all I need to know about society’s moral compass and the hypocrisy they have when it comes to cheating in sport.