HIDDEN footage has revealed the moment Manchester United captain Harry Maguire disagreed with Marcus Rashford over Anthony Martial’s sending off.
The Old Trafford winger saw red for slapping Tottenham’s Erik Lamela in the face during Spurs’ 6-1 win last weekend.
Lamela lies in a heap after being elbowed by MartialCredit: AFP or licensors
Rashford asks why Lamela is not getting a red for his actions
Maguire tries to calm Rashford down by saying the officials have checked the incident
Replays showed Lamela struck Martial first but the Argentine’s fall to the floor exaggerated any contact between the pair.
United players were furious with referee Anthony Taylor’s decision and demanded to know why Lamela did not get the same punishment.
They surrounded the official hopeful that a VAR review would see the incident downgraded to a yellow for Martial – or that Lamela would also be sent off.
However, this new footage – which came when the score was 2-1 – shows the division in the United team, with Rashford and Maguire arguing over the incident.
When a yellow is shown to Lamela, Rashford fumes ‘nothing for that elbow?’ and says the Tottenham man’s actions were identical to Martial’s.
He says: “Why?! It’s the same!”
But Maguire backs the referee’s decision, saying to Rashford: “It’s not violent conduct. They’ve checked.”
Rashford replies: “He’s elbowed him!”
Martial definitely raised his hand but the contact made was minimal
The footage ends with Martial – who is set to miss games against Arsenal and Chelsea as part of his three-match ban – trudging off down the tunnel.
One fan slammed Maguire for his seemingly passive display.
He said: “I know he’s relaying a message but even just seeing a captain not arsed at that decision, not pressuring the referee, we know refs will try even things out when they’ve made a bad call, they need to be told.
“In the heat of a game, you’re just letting that one slide. It’s weird.”
But another wrote: “All Harry is doing is relaying the ref’s words, I don’t see the issue here.”
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And a fellow user commented on Maguire: “He should never have been made captain after five minutes of being at the club. And his performances of late have been nothing short of shocking. Should be in the referees face contesting that red. Sadly this football club has no leaders at all.”
In fairness, Maguire was probably just trying to calm Rashford down with the game already running away from United.
With just one win in their first three games, the season has got off to a nightmare start for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
And it seems unlikely the transfer deadline day arrivals – no Jadon Sancho but in come Edinson Cavani and Alex Telles – will do much to quell fan unrest.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
