Pablo Zabaleta said he did not protest to referee Andre Marriner when he was refused a penalty because Manchester City are determined not to copy Chelsea's controversial policy of putting pressure on officials.
Jose Mourinho's team were criticised when nine of their players surrounded Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers in their successful attempts to persuade him to send off Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic for his tackle on Oscar in Wednesday's Champions League tie.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini insisted on Friday that his side would never adopt the same approach. In injury time of their 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor on Saturday, Zabaleta was convinced Burnley left-back Ben Mee fouled him in the 18-yard area.
The Argentinian right-back believes Marriner's decision could cost City the title, but said: "I didn't say anything to the referee. People have talked about the way Chelsea players complained over Ibrahimovic. It's something that in England people don't like it. I just try to respect the decision of the referee.
"I didn't say anything to him. After the game I just went to the dressing room very upset because I think it was a penalty. It could have been a big chance for us to score one goal and probably take at least one point.
Zabaleta went on to say he was upset and angry about the decision, adding that If it was a free-kick for Burnley, then the referee should have given him a yellow card for diving.
"It was a big chance for us to get a point. A point is a point. When everything is really tight, at the end of the season any point can make a difference. Now it's going to be hard," said Zabaleta.
"It was right at the end, if we'd scored then we may have had more chance to win it. So it's disappointing. I got sent off last season in Barcelona when I went to the referee and complained about [Edin] Dzeko's penalty [that was not given]. So I try to have respect for referees now."
Zabaleta believes they performed better than has been acknowledged, adding: "We should have won the game playing in the way we want to win the games, playing football, moving the ball quickly. If you look at the whole game, it was not our best but we created at least 20 chances with eight or nine on target.
"I can't remember [goalkeeper] Joe [Hart] having many saves apart from the goal, I don't remember clear chances for them. It's hard to understand. You need a bit of luck in those moments. We had more than 70 percent of possession, we controlled the game but we lost it. Football is just about results and it was a big win for Burnley."