Taking on Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday, Manchester United lost their captain Bruno Fernandes to a red card ahead of the first-half break. The Portuguese midfielder was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Tottenham counterpart James Maddison in the 41st minute of the game. The Red Devils were trailing 1-0 at the time of the incident which shocked the stadium. It was the first red card of his Manchester United career.
As a consequence of the red card, Erik Ten Hag was forced to bring on Mason Mount in place of Kobbie Mainoo to restore some balance to his team. To the further embarrassment of the homecrowd, the Englishman also received a booking before the half-time whistle blew, minutes after entering the field.
It was young Brennan Johnson who handed Tottenham, who started sans their talismanic captain Son Heung-min, the lead just three minutes after kick-off.
James Maddison got back on his feet and embraced the disappointed United captain before the latter marched to the dugout, the live telecast showed. Fernandes accepted Maddison's sportsmanship but didn't witheld his disagreement with the decision even as the Spurs star showed that his foul struck him rather high on the heel region.
Match referee Chris Kavanagh gave Bruno the marching orders after he caught Maddison high on his leg while making a sliding tackle to reclaim the ball. The United captain slipped in the effort to tackle the opponent and left Maddison reeling in pain on the floor. The VAR didn't come to Bruno's aid either as there was no attempt to play the ball.
At the first half break, Spurs enjoyed 64% ball possession and managed 12 shots against United's three. While the visitors shot four on target, United only managed one.