Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has avoided a ban after the club successfully appealed against his red card in Sunday’s loss to Tottenham.
The 30-year-old was shown a straight red card for a foul on Spurs midfielder James Maddison and would have faced a three-match suspension for serious foul play.
However, United successfully argued that the decision to send him off was wrong and Fernandes will now be available for his side’s forthcoming Premier League fixtures against Aston Villa, Brentford and West Ham.
Erik ten Hag’s side were 1-0 down when Fernandes was sent off and proceeded to lose 3-0, their third league defeat of the campaign.
The incident came in the 42nd minute at Old Trafford with Fernandes slipping and sticking out a leg to catch Maddison halfway up his shin as he went past him.
“Never a red card – that is my view,” Fernandes told BBC Match of the Day after the game. “I agree that it is a foul.
“The referee tried to tell me that as he saw it was a clear contact with the studs. No. I didn’t touch him with the studs or even the foot, it was my ankle. It is a clear foul.
“If he wants to give me a yellow because they are going to go on a counter then I agree. But more than that, no. It is not the case.”
United’s next match is against Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before they return to league action against Villa on Sunday.
‘A mixture of relief and immense frustration’ – analysis
This news will be greeted with a mixture of relief and immense frustration by Ten Hag.
Fernandes might be way off his best form so far this season but he is a central figure for the United boss, potentially a creative spark and a leader in a team desperately in need of them.
However, Ten Hag will wonder how Sunday’s game would have turned out if his captain had remained on the pitch.
Tottenham had been by far the better team up to Fernandes’ dismissal but were only one goal in front. The situation was salvageable.
Instead, United had 10 men, conceded at the start of the second half and from that moment just tried to stem the flow of attacks – which they failed to do, landing Ten Hag in deep trouble with the heavy loss.
Quite aside from that, it is not a good look for PGMOL that both the referee and, more importantly, VAR made a key decision subsequently found to be wrong.
‘Ten Hag lacks a bit of fire’
While the news his captain will not miss any games will be a boost to Ten Hag, the United boss remains under pressure and has also been criticised by one of his former first-team coaches.
Benni McCarthy, the former Blackburn striker, worked under the Dutchman for two years at Old Trafford before leaving to pursue his own career in management in the summer.
“In modern football, I believe that players want to see a bit more passion in their coach,” the South African, speaking to Portuguese outlet ZEROZERO, said of Ten Hag.
“They need to feel that the coach is with them and willing to fight alongside them.
“Tactically, I feel that Erik is at the top. He lacks a bit of that fire, that passion. That’s where we differ, him and I.”
McCarthy also questioned the attitude during training of some United players in his time at the club.
“If some of the Manchester United players had what Bruno [Fernandes] and Diogo [Dalot] have, it would have been easier to achieve good results,” he added.
“They both trained with incredible concentration, giving everything they had. Some of the others didn’t do the same.
“This ended up limiting United’s progress, because some players weren’t training to the best of their ability.
“Even in games, the data showed us that some players were at their peak performance and others a little below.”
United won the FA Cup under Ten Hag last season, but are currently 13th in the league after six matches.
