Paul Scholes branded referee Felix Zwayer’s decision to caution Bruno Fernandes in Manchester United’s 2-2 Europa League draw with Sevilla “ridiculous”.
The midfielder was booked after the ball hit his arm from close range on 41 minutes. It was Fernandes' third booking of the competition, meaning he will be suspended for the return trip to Spain next week.
Fernandes fiercely remonstrated with the official over the decision, knowing what it meant. Scholes was not impressed by referee Zwayer and took aim at his overall performance on the night.
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Speaking to BT, he said: “Ridiculous. I thought the referee was poor all night. Any sign of a foul he couldn’t wait to get his yellow card out - just give the free-kick? It’s not intentional, he’s stood a yard away from him.”
Former United colleague and fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves was equally scathing and perplexed. He added: “It’s a ridiculous decision from the referee. What’s Bruno supposed to do? He’s a yard away. He’s right on top of it, by the way, the referee, that’s not a yellow card, I don’t think, at all.”
United suffered a number of worrying setbacks during the game. Raphael Varane was taken off at half-time after going down in the first half before Lisandro Martinez had to be carried down down the tunnel with a worrying looking non-contact foot injury.
Hargreaves noted that Fernandes’ absence and the potential unavailability of first-choice centre-half pairing Varane and Martinez will make progression through to the semi-finals a harder task than first envisaged.
He said: “The manager is potentially missing Varane, potentially missing Martinez, he’s missing Fernandes.
"That first half was so under control, it could have been three or four nil, then all of a sudden everything completely changes with the injuries and now missing Bruno. It’s a big surprise, that second half was a big surprise.”
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