Uefa Champions League: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s handling of Fred could cost Manchester United progress
- Fred, lucky to escape a red card in the first half, was given his marching orders in the second half as PSG took control of the match
By the time Neymar scored Paris Saint-Germain’s second goal to complete a 3-1 victory in stoppage time, Fred had long departed the Old Trafford pitch.
Not at a time of Solskjaer’s choosing – as the manager repeatedly had the chance to do – but when the red card that seemingly had long been coming was finally shown with 20 minutes to go.
Fred could first have been dismissed around 30 minutes into this penultimate group H match for thrusting his head toward PSG midfielder Leandro Paredes. To the disbelief of the French champions, the referee only booked Fred after reviewing the apparent headbutt on the pitchside TV monitor.
With fans still shut out of Old Trafford because of ongoing coronavirus restrictions, there wasn’t even any crowd to try to influence Daniele Orsato.