Bruno Fernandes is a cheat and Manchester United deserved to lose to Manchester City on Sunday as a result, believes former England striker Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Fernandes was at the centre of the first bit of controversy at Old Trafford, when Phil Foden was sent off for kicking out at him.
The Manchester United captain had initially fouled Foden and then kicked him while he was on the ground, but he escaped unpunished while the Manchester City star was dismissed for retaliating.
The Portuguese was not kicked hard at all by Foden, but went down clutching his stomach to help engineer the red card and Agbonlahor was not impressed.
Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro’s football newsletter
Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free.
The game ended 1-0 thanks to an even more controversial moment as Erling Haaland scored despite Enzo Fernandez quite clearly being offside in the build-up.
The linesman flagged before VAR overturned the decision and gave the goal, but Pro Ref admitted after the game that it should have been ruled out.
Agbonlahor reckons that this piece of misfortune is karma for the behaviour of the Manchester United captain earlier in the afternoon.
‘At the end of the day, Bruno Fernandes is a cheat,’ the former Aston Villa striker said on talkSPORT. ‘He’s an outstanding player, but he’s a cheat.
‘You’ve kicked Foden twice on the floor, which should have been a red card to you. Then Foden’s lashed out a tiny little bit and you’re rolling around when you’re not hurt.
‘A proper referee goes over and says, “You two, cut it out.” A yellow each, play on. It’s never a red card.
‘That’s why you get your karma. Maybe the goal that should’ve been disallowed on Haaland, is the karma you sometimes get in football for the red card to Phil Foden.’
Agbonlahor does not have much sympathy for the wrongly-given goal for other reasons, believing the Red Devils lost the game chiefly because they were poor.
‘You lost the game because Fernandes didn’t turn up, [Matheus] Cunha didn’t turn up, [Bryan] Mbeumo didn’t turn up,’ he said.
‘[Diogo] Dalot was horrendous at right-back, [Patrick] Dorgu is not a left-back.
‘You lost the game because when you went up a man, for 70 minutes, you decided to sit back. You decided not go to go for it.
‘How can Manchester City be the better team with 10 men? You lost the game for different reasons.
‘You didn’t turn up, the occasion got to a lot of the players, not because of the goal that shouldn’t have been given.’
Manchester United legend Roy Keane felt Fernandes was lucky not to be sent off himself, while Foden should not have seen red.
‘Foden gets up and reacts obviously so he’s now sent off. The strange thing is, if you look at it, so Bruno catches him, gives the foul away and gives him a little kick,’ Keane said on Sky Sports.
‘Foden is sent off and I’m guessing it’s classed as violent conduct. To me, Bruno is the one who’s violent here. I have to call it out.
‘Listen, we see violence, I suppose, in a different way. But I don’t think that’s a red card for Foden.’