Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes voiced his frustration at perceived inconsistencies in refereeing decisions as his side were not awarded a penalty in their 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.
Referee Stuart Atwell looked at an incident in the second half when Amad Diallo went down under contact by Adrien Truffert in the box, but determined it was not worthy of a penalty.
VAR agreed with the on-field decision but Atwell later gave Bournemouth a penalty for a similar-looking challenge, with Harry Maguire seeing a straight red for pushing Evanilson in the penalty area with the latter through on goal, and conceding a spot-kick, which Eli Junior Kroupi duly converted.
Fernandes said afterwards: “I think we could have gone 2-0 up, and then we ended up conceding a goal, not getting a penalty and then we get a penalty against, where more or less it’s the same situation as Amad.
“One is rewarded as a penalty, the other one not. I know it’s difficult for the referee to give two penalties to the same team in one game but I don’t understand why VAR doesn’t get involved in that situation or with Harry [Maguire] because either one is a penalty and so is the other or none of them are.
“Amad is getting to a point where he’s going to shoot and he gets pushed – you can see that something puts him completely out of balance.
“It’s frustrating for the small players because they always say the small players are soft and when it’s the bigger players they end up giving the fouls. I think the other situation is a penalty, but I also think the one on Amad is a penalty and that could’ve changed the game.”
Fernandes had earlier opened the scoring for United from the spot after Michael Carrick’s side were awarded a penalty for a foul on Matheus Cunha by Alejandro Jimenez.
The Premier League Match Centre explained the decision not to award United another penalty on X, writing: “The referee’s call of no penalty for a challenge by Truffert was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed the contact was not sufficient for a foul.”
Manchester United interim manager Michael Carrick agreed with his captain, saying: “We should have had another penalty. Obviously, if you get one, you must get the other.
“It’s pretty much identical for me, two-hand grab. Either way, he’s got one wrong, but to give one and not give the other, I can’t get my head around it, I think it’s crazy. It’s a bit baffling, really.”
Carrick said the decision not to award the Amad penalty was pivotal to the outcome of the game. He added: “Because of that, they score and then it’s chaos after that, really.
“We should have had another penalty and the game would have been totally different.
“That’s what VAR was for: clean it up and consistency. Surely whatever they think, if one’s been given there’s enough people to decide that it’s the same as the first. It’s two different decisions, so a bit baffling really.”
