Daily Mail

Bruno acted like a petulant child, he deserves to be stripped of captaincy

- CHRIS SUTTON ON THE INCREDIBLE SULK, BRUNO FERNANDES

BRUNO FERNANDES shoved the referee’s assistant. He acted as if his nose had exploded when caught in the chest by Ibrahima Konate. He dived to try to win a penalty from Alisson. He refused to track Stefan Bajcetic when beaten. He waved his arms in the air when Erik ten Hag did not substitute him. Fernandes, take a bow for one of the worst performanc­es we have seen from a Premier League player, certainly from a captain. The Incredible Sulk racked up quite the rap sheet at Anfield. There was nothing profession­al about this behaviour. It was more befitting a petulant child, and the push on the assistant should result in a ban, no ifs and buts. Paolo Di Canio got 11 games in 1998, remember, and I wouldn’t disagree if Fernandes received the same punishment. This was shameful, embarrassi­ng, disgracefu­l, whatever word you can conjure up. It is bad enough you are getting obliterate­d at Liverpool, but then you see the guy wearing the armband having a go at Ten Hag for not substituti­ng him. Is he really the leader that everybody else is supposed to follow? Whatever you think of Harry Maguire, the club captain, you would not catch him behaving like this on the pitch. Ten Hag dealt with the Cristiano Ronaldo problem. Now he needs to deal with Fernandes, starting with deciding whether he deserves to wear the armband in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Real Betis. I don’t think he does. Liverpool were fantastic and United were foul, and nobody embodied their deplorable display more than Fernandes.

 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Acting up: Fernandes after Konate’s challenge
Humilated: United’s players are dejected as they leave the field while (right) Marcus Rashford shows his disgust
GETTY IMAGES Acting up: Fernandes after Konate’s challenge Humilated: United’s players are dejected as they leave the field while (right) Marcus Rashford shows his disgust
 ?? ?? FOR A MAIL+ EXCLUSIVE EXTRA SPREAD OF PICTURES GO TO MAILSUBS.CO.UK
FOR A MAIL+ EXCLUSIVE EXTRA SPREAD OF PICTURES GO TO MAILSUBS.CO.UK

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom