Manchester United are extremely fortunate to go into half-time of their Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain at Old Trafford with a full complement of players.
Fred has been involved in a midfield tussle with PSG’s Leandro Paredes and somehow remained on the pitch after losing his cool with the Argentine.
Midway through the first-half, Fred moved his head towards Paredes in a clear action that resembled a headbutt.
His actions mirrored those of Nicolas Pepe who was sent off against Leeds United last week.
And a straight red card seemed the only plausible decision when the referee was advised to check his pitch side monitor.
But remarkably, a yellow was branded and we can only presume the referee saw no aggressive intent in Fred’s actions.
Shortly after, the Reds equalised through Marcus Rashford’s deflected effort against the run of play.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has five substitutes at his disposal and it would be wise to take off Fred at the break for Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba or Donny van de Beek to avoid the risk of playing with 10 men.
Reds on social media are pleasing with Solskjaer to act prudently and remove the Brazilian before the inevitable happens.
United will be through to the knockout stages if they avoid conceding a goal in the second period.
See Fred escape red below, via BT Sport:
It looks as though Fred is a very lucky boy 👀
He appeared to move his head towards Paredes off the ball, the referee took a closer look, and gave a yellow card ⚠️
Already down a goal, that was a close call for Man Utd… pic.twitter.com/4c2JvDhxGO
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 2, 2020
McTominay is lucky not to be on a yellow and Fred is even luckier to be still on the park, and not a straight red either, he’s committed 1 foul since his yellow, that WAS given against him, and then got away with another, stepping on someone’s foot. If he’s not taken off now 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
— Rick The Red (@rickthereduk) December 2, 2020
bring fred off for donny van de beek at half-time my heart can’t take this anymore, he’s a walking red card
— Therese 🇳🇴 (@ThereseUTD) December 2, 2020
HT: thoughts
– Fred has been unbelievably lucky. Ole needs to caution/take him off.
– Mctominay has been impressive with the shithousery.
– Wan Bissaka has been good defensively.
– Man United needs to get the next goal and wrap up this tie.— Zoba (@Czooba) December 2, 2020
Just take Fred off. It’s the most obvious red in waiting since Rafael vs Bayern…
— Jay Motty (@JayMotty) December 2, 2020
OGS has five subs. It might be prudent to use one of them at half-time. Fred walking the very tightest of ropes.
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) December 2, 2020
Lucky not to be down to 10 men in that half but the response after that has been positive. Fred looks like a red card waiting to happen and if just bring on VDB or Pogba. But all to play for.
— 🔰 Flex 🔰 (@FlexUTD) December 2, 2020
Watching Fred vs Paredes his half, you'd think there was some kind of rivalry between Brazil and Argentina.
— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) December 2, 2020
Fred looking over at Herrera on the PSG bench like: "Chill… I got this." #shithousery pic.twitter.com/nY6z1eQQUW
— StrettyNews.com (@StrettyNews) December 2, 2020
Fred off for VdB at half-time please. Imagine it'll be Pogba though.
— Scott Patterson (@R_o_M) December 2, 2020
READ MORE: Video: Man Utd midfielder Fred somehow escapes red card for headbutt after VAR check
