Bruno Fernandes has escaped punishment after an incident with assistant referee Adam Nunn in Manchester United's thrashing at the hands of Liverpool.
The Manchester United captain was caught handling the official during the second half of the devastating 7-0 defeat at Anfield. The FA are able take retrospective disciplinary action if a player committed a sending-off offence that was ‘not seen’ by the match officials.
Mirror Football understands the match officials did not take any formal action for the incident. And the FA have confirmed that no action will be taken because the incident WAS spotted by referee Andy Madley and his team, who decided not to include it in their report.
The FA recently wrote to all clubs reminding them of their responsibilities in relation to the behaviour of participants. However, retrospective action will only be taken if it is deemed match officials missed a clear sending-off offence.
The FA have faced calls to make a statement by punishing Fernandes with Ref Support UK chief executive Martin Cassidy warning they must prove they are serious about clamping down on abuse of referees.
"Just like someone doing a Ronaldo celebration or a Cruyff turn, children will mimic what they see on TV. We’re talking about a world class official being pushed in the back here," Cassidy told Mirror Football.
"The onus is certainly on the FA. They have all the evidence in front of them to send a real strong message across all football that touching a match official in this way is totally unacceptable.
“Fernandes behaved like an entitled child. The FA has done an awful lot of great work since the beginning of the year in terms of protecting match officials, such as the body cam pilot, which is a wonderful progressive move. But they can damage that by not addressing this with a strong ban. We believe it should be five games for this.”
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Fernandes came in for instant criticism for some of his antics at Anfield, with ex-Red Devils defender Gary Neville branding him "embarrassing" on co-commentary after he went down holding his face after being caught in the chest by Ibrahima Konate.
Neville said on Sky Sports at full-time: "The second half has been an absolute disgrace. It was a shambles, epitomised by captain Bruno Fernandes, who has been embarrassing at times. They've not understood the dangers of this fixture. The Manchester United players have been eaten alive out there."
However, Fernandes found an ally in the form of Paul Scholes, who admitted he "felt sorry" for the Portuguese midfielder.
"I actually feel sorry for him [Fernandes] when he’s played," said Scholes. "He’s been pushed out to many positions to do a job for the team. He was on the left today, he’s been on the right, he’s played through the middle, he has been a little bit all over the place.
"You can’t say any of the players performed the way they should have done, but I thought he was especially poor today. It wasn’t his greatest afternoon."
