Bruno Fernandes had a frank exchange of words with a Spanish journalist following Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Athletic Club in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
Manchester United put on a clinical display in Bilbao, earning a dominant 3-0 win over Athletic Club in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final and putting themselves in the driving seat ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford.
Alejandro Garnacho thought he’d opened the scoring inside five minutes, but his goal was ruled out for offside. That early warning was a sign of things to come. Casemiro broke the deadlock after sharp build-up play involving Harry Maguire, before United were handed a major advantage when Dani Vivian brought down Rasmus Højlund in the box and was shown a red card.
Bruno Fernandes made no mistake from the penalty spot, then added a second goal just before the interval to cap a brilliant first half.
In the second half, Athletic Club pushed to respond, but Rúben Amorim’s men managed the game with confidence and composure, seeing out a massive away win that puts them one match from a place in the final.
Why was Vivian sent off vs United?
Many were confused to see that Vivian was also shown a straight red card after he fouled Højlund in the area, as footballing rules were changed in 2016 that prevented players from being sent off if they gave away a penalty.
The logic of the ruling is that it was too harsh for a team to suffer conceding a penalty, having a man sent off, and that player then serving a ban even if he denied a goalscoring opportunity, as it was seen as three punishments for one action.
However, what has since been explained is that, despite the penalty being given, Vivian still deserved the straight red card as he made no genuine attempt to play the ball when he impeded Højlund.
The Spaniard simply pulled the Danish striker back and prevented him from scoring without trying to intercept the ball himself, meaning there was no argument that it was an accidental foul, and therefore deserved to be sent off for the purposeful denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
Fernandes clashes with Spanish journalist
While United fans have been celebrating what was an outstanding victory for Amorim’s men, the Spanish press have been fuming over the penalty fiasco which saw United not only awarded the spot kick, but Athlaic Club having one of their centre-backs sent straight off.
After the fixture, club captain Fernandes challenged those claiming that Athletic Club had been unfairly treated.
As detailed by Spanish outlet AS, after being asked if he thought the home side were “harmed” by the decision, to which Fernandes was not impressed with the implication being made.
“Do you think it wasn’t a penalty?” United’s 30-year-old asked.
“I think it could have been a penalty, but no – it wasn’t a red card,” the reporter stated in reply.
“Why wasn’t it a penalty? Do you know the rules?” Fernandes hit back. “I’ll explain. Yes, you try to make a tackle with your feet, but the way he pushes him with his hands, it has to be a red.
“I think there was a penalty on Garnacho that wasn’t called.”
He continued: “I think talking about the referee here is a custom that exists a lot in Spain and Portugal.
“But I’m in England and my mind changed a long time ago. I’m not going to do it because referees are like us, they make mistakes. But I don’t think he made a mistake today.”
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