Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has called for Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes to be banned after he shoved a linesman during the 7-0 defeat to Liverpool.
The Portugal international did not have his finest hour at Anfield on Sunday, looking petulant and stroppy throughout the game, which was, admittedly, an absolute nightmare for the Red Devils.
Still, there can be no excuse for what Fernandes did, and Hackett thinks the Man Utd midfielder needs to feel the full force of the law for the incident.
🗣 "The assistant actually man-handles Fernades more than he did."
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher does not condone Bruno Fernandes man-handling the official but as the official man-handled first there is slight leeway pic.twitter.com/qyOeUqw52s
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 6, 2023
“I am concerned and disappointed that the Football Association has seen Bruno Fernandes’ push on an official and glossed over it,” Hackett wrote in his column in the Telegraph.
“At the very least, Fernandes needs to be charged by the FA and to then go through the disciplinary processes. What is the message being sent out here, with no further action taken?
“The people making the decision for him not to face punishment will need to look at their processes here.
“The incident was not deemed serious enough to put in the referees’ report on the game so Fernandes escaped – but you cannot, in any circumstances, put your hands on an official.
“I would ban any player for touching an official for one match, and then the punishment can be increased in line with the severity of the offence.
“We all saw the video – and the VAR did too – and you can see Fernandes’ frustration, you can see his arm bend into pushing the assistant. He knew exactly what he was doing and him getting off sets the wrong precedent.”