Manchester United fans are incensed after Barcelona attacker Raphinha appeared to grab the throat of Bruno Fernandes during a mass melee in Thursday’s Europa League tie.
Despite protesting it wasn’t intentional, Fernandes was shown a yellow card for booting the ball into Frenkie de Jong after the midfielder was felled after jostling with Aaron Wan-Bissaka midway through the second half.
It caused a shoving match between both sets of players with tempers high. Fernandes and Raphinha are good friends having played together at Sporting Lisbon and the former Leeds man tried to pull United’s de facto captain away from the scene.
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However, the way he did so has raised eyebrows. The winger raised his hands towards the throat of his counterpart when distancing him from angered Barcelona stars.
Fernandes did not seem to react, but United fans on social media were unhappy. They pointed to similarities between the incident and the one that saw Casemiro red-carded against Crystal Palace earlier this month.
He was banned for three matches for violent conduct as a result and United supporters on Twitter were angered Raphinha escaped similar punishment during the tie. They noted the hypocrisy and took aim at Premier League officials.
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