Jamie Carragher believes Marcus Rashford should have been sent off for a second bookable offence during Manchester United’s stalemate with Aston Villa this afternoon.
The two teams could not be separated after a drab first half, with clear-cut chances few and far between, and it was more of the same after the break as Bruno Fernandes came closest with a free-kick that struck the cross bar.
Injuries to Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui forced an under-pressure Erik ten Hag to switch up his back four, with Victor Lindelof and summer signing Matthijs de Ligt introduced at the halfway stage.
Referee Rob Jones dished out five yellow cards in total to the visitors and Rashford ensured his name was added to the book after a foul on Matty Cash on the hour-mark.
And with Rashford walking a tightrope, the forward put in another clumsy challenge on Leon Bailey, prompting cries around Villa Park for a red to be brandished – but no card was shown.
The England international was replaced by Antony just moments later and former Liverpool defender Carragher felt United were very fortunate to still have ten men on the field.
‘Well if Marcus Rashford hadn’t got a yellow card already then that would be a yellow card,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports’ commentary of the Premier League clash.
‘He is very lucky. He knows he can’t get the ball.
‘That should have been a red card and United should be down to ten men for me.’
In the Sky Sports studio ahead of kick-off, Dimitar Berbatov said he hoped a misfiring Rashford would return stronger from his recent struggles.
‘I really hope that he hasn’t peaked, that this is not the final development of his career. Like… that’s it,’ the ex-United and Tottenham striker said.
‘He’s only 26 so I think and I hope that he can continue to produce good football like he’s show in the past and it’s not like, “Okay, this is my peak and this is what I can do”.
‘The half-time substitution the other day [against Porto], I don’t know what it was about.
‘But I hope that now he’s on the pitch again that he’s going to be like, “Alright, boss… I’m going to show you that you never take me off at half-time anymore!”.’
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