Manchester United icon Peter Schmeichel brutally slammed Bruno Fernandes for giving away a "stupid" penalty during Thursday night's victory over Barcelona in the Europa League play-offs.
With the match level at 2-2 on aggregate, Fernandes was at fault for giving away a first-half penalty which was coolly converted by Robert Lewandowski to leave United with a mountain to climb.
Thankfully for the hosts, they recovered and fought back after the break with goals from Fred and Antony to progress at the expense of the Spanish giants, who were also dumped out of the Champions League earlier this season. But prior to United's second-half turnaround, former Old Trafford favourite Schmeichel was furious with Fernandes after he hauled down Alejandro Balde in the penalty area.
The ex-goalkeeper, who was commentating on the match for BBC Radio 5 Live, fumed: "It looks like a penalty. It is so stupid to pull a man down inside the penalty area in a situation where Alejandro Balde is going away from goal. He's pulled him down. That is just stupid. That's a clear penalty. It's just silly and unnecessary.
"Balde was going away from goal, he was going nowhere. Just let him go! The one thing you have to eradicate in these big games is mistakes. Bruno Fernandes is still arguing [with the referee]. He needs to get a grip and start concentrating.
"He played some sloppy passes and now has given a penalty away which was completely unnecessary. He owes the team and he needs to control himself."
Thankfully for Manchester United, Fernandes did step things up in the second half. It took the Portuguese playmaker less than two minutes to tee up Fred, who thumped United back onto level terms.
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The United captain had the bit between his teeth and would later spark an on-field brawl by booting the ball at Barcelona playmaker - and long-term Manchester United transfer target - Frenkie de Jong when he was on the floor.
After the match, Fernandes told BT Sport that the vociferous Old Trafford crowd meant that he was always confident United would find a winner after restoring parity. He said: "As I've said they've [the fans] been with us in the toughest moments. This season we have been good, we’ve been really good, also because they are always behind us.
"This is something different, you can feel it between them and us, we have something special because they see that we are doing all we can to win games for them. Old Trafford was bouncing, that’s why we get the result.
"When you get the goal straight after the second half starts you know they will be behind us. It was just a matter of time to score the second goal."
