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The Red Devils were lucky not to be reduced to ten men after their Brazilian midfielder lunged at him, before he was finally fired.
Manchester United found themselves extremely lucky not to be one goal and one player down after 20 minutes against Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League clash on Wednesday.
Neymar had opened the scoring after just seven minutes at Old Trafford, before the Red Devils got sweaty following a fight between Fred and Leandro Paredes that was reviewed by the video assistant referee in the 22nd minute.
Subsequent replays showed both players facing off, with Fred apparently guilty of initiating a header while leaning into his opponent’s face.
Replays showed Paredes quickly falling to the ground as he looked for his opponent to be ejected.
However, even though on-field referee Daniele Orsato, who led PSG in their Champions League final loss to Bayern Munich last season, reviewed the incident, he chose to hand the Brazilian midfielder a yellow card.
The controversial call from the Italian official came to the dismay of PSG manager Thomas Tuchel and to the surprise of experts and fans watching from home.
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With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team fortunate to avoid being reduced to 10 men, they managed to tie it just 10 minutes later when Marcus Rashford shot Keylor Navas with a deflected shot.
Fred risked receiving a second yellow card as the first half continued, with him and Paredes involved in a 50-50 clash in the 39th minute that saw the PSG man this time with a referee caution.
PSG striker Neymar also received a yellow card following his protests to referee Orsato, and the Ligue 1 team was unhappy that the Brazilian remained on the field after these incidents.
The two teams entered halftime locked at 1-1 with the Red Devils needing only one point to secure their place in the knockout stages. Meanwhile, PSG need a win at Old Trafford, with Group H qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League among the most contested of this year’s tournament.
Despite many expecting Fred to be retired at halftime, Solskjaer opted to keep the Brazilian on the field, a decision that would ultimately backfire.
After Marquinhos regained PSG’s lead from close range in the 69th minute, Fred spotted the timing of a sliding tackle at the restart and the referee was quick to show him a second yellow card as the midfielder received his marching orders in a night to forget. .
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