Ole Gunnar Solskjær admitted he was considering replacing Fred before the Brazilian was sent off in Manchester United’s 3-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain at Old Trafford.
Prior to a second yellow card in the 70th minute, the manager said Fred was lucky to keep going when he appeared to hit Leandro Paredes in the head after 24 minutes. At the instruction of the VAR, the referee Daniel Orsato studied the pitch side monitor and only issued a first yellow card.
The second midfielder came in for a fair tackle against Ander Herrera and Solskjær admitted that he had thought about removing Fred during the break.
“Yes [I did]. Fred played really well. We talked about staying calm and on your feet [at the break]”Said the manager.” The second yellow card was nowhere near a foul. Ander knows that. Fred shouldn’t point his head at Paredes [but] I don’t think he touched it. He was a little lucky to keep going.
“Fred played very disciplined in the second half and if he does such a duel you can’t blame the boy. But after the decision the referee made, you might look back and say you should have it [taken him off]. The referee made a mistake there, but that’s allowed. Fred knows that he shouldn’t turn his head on anyone even though he isn’t touching them. “
Solskjaer has been under pressure to replace Fred considering how PSG players might have been hoping for a second yellow card.
“You can’t say that Ander tried to provoke him, that’s a bit unfair to Ander,” said the manager. “I thought Fred kept his head and cool in the second half and was unlucky with the referee’s decision. So in retrospect you can say that you had 11 men, that would of course have been better, but who should say that? “
Thomas Tuchel, PSG’s coach, was confused by Orsato’s decision. “I got the impression Fred gave a bum and VAR confirmed it, so I was surprised it was a yellow card,” he said.
United still controls their own destiny. If you know a point at RB Leipzig next week, promotion to the knockout phase is guaranteed.
“We have to dust ourselves off,” said Solskjaer. “We go into every game that wants to win.”
The Norwegian gave an update on Marcus Rashford’s injury, who equalized Neymar’s opener ahead of Marquinhos and another goal after Brazil’s PSG win. “It’s a minor shoulder injury,” said Solskjaer. “Let’s see how quickly he can recover. Hopefully he’s ready for the West Ham game [on Saturday]. ”
