Bruno Fernandes reveals what James Maddison told him after controversial red card

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes says he should not have been sent-off against Tottenham on Sunday and he revealed that James Maddison agrees with him.

It was a shocking afternoon for the Red Devils at Old Trafford as they were thrashed 3-0 by Spurs, not helped by a red card for their skipper after just 42 minutes.

The Portuguese slipped before trying to challenge Maddison and in the awkward tackle he caught the Spurs man on the shin.

The referee was very quick to flash a straight red and VAR did not intervene, despite the consensus in the Sky Sports studio being that it should have been a yellow.

Fernandes was shocked that he was punished so heavily and says that even Maddison felt it was very harsh.

‘It’s part of slipping going in, I don’t take him as everyone wants to see it, I don’t go with the studs, I take him with my ankle, it’s a clear foul but never a red card, that’s my feeling,’ Fernandes told Sky Sports.

‘Even Maddison when he gets up, he said it’s a foul but never a red card, that’s what he said.

‘In the eyes of everyone you can see it’s never a red card, because if this is a red card I think we have to look at many other incidents, many incidents when I get kicked and I’ve never seen something so quick coming as a red card.

‘I just think it’s never a red card. If he wants to give a yellow because it’s a counter-attack, I agree, then I don’t understand why VAR doesn’t call the referee to the screen. For me it’s just not a really good decision, that’s all.’

Tottenham dominated the game before and after the red card, but Fernandes hailed his teammates for their workrate after he left the field.

‘I want to say I left my teammates one man down, I appreciate everything they did on the pitch. We didn’t start the game well with 11 players and then they did very well,’ he said.

‘It was difficult to cover all of the spaces, there are many good things we can take away from this. I am proud of the team.’

Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke scored the goals for Spurs as they rose to eighth and United sunk to 12th in the Premier League table.

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