Jamie Carragher has launched a sharp attack on Bruno Fernandes following the controversial dismissal of Phil Foden in Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.

The flashpoint occurred in the 23rd minute at Old Trafford, when Foden was sent off for kicking out at the United captain after the two players had clashed.

Despite being reduced to ten men for over an hour, City still managed to win the match thanks to a second-half goal from Erling Haaland.

The red card decision has continued to divide opinion across the football world since the final whistle at Old Trafford.

Carragher made his feelings clear on Monday Night Football, saying two yellow cards would have been a more proportionate punishment for what unfolded.

He said: “What I would say is two yellows [cards] would have been fine. But I was really disappointed with Bruno Fernandes.”

Carragher went further, accusing Fernandes of exaggerating the contact and drawing comparisons to a similar incident involving Harry Kane several years ago.

He added: “There’s a lot of things in football that we like or we don’t like. My big one that I really don’t like is people going down, pretending they’re hurt. But doing that, I can’t have it.”

Carragher was keen to stress that his criticism was based on principle rather than any bias toward the clubs or players involved in the derby.

He stated: “I know there will be Manchester United fans watching this saying: ‘Oh it’s because he’s a Manchester United player, it’s because he’s a foreign player’. On this show about five or six years ago Harry Kane did the same in a game between Tottenham and Everton and I said the same, I can’t accept it. I’m not having the reaction from Bruno there, it was a brush from his foot.”

Referee Michael Oliver issued the red card for violent conduct, and VAR subsequently backed that decision on the day.

Pro Ref later maintained that the red card itself was the correct call, even as officials admitted a separate VAR error related to Haaland’s winning goal.

Foden undeniably created the problem for his own side by retaliating, regardless of how Fernandes responded to the contact.

The bigger frustration for United, however, remains the fact that they could not capitalise on their numerical advantage for the majority of the match.

Failing to make ten-man City pay ultimately proved far more costly than any debate over Fernandes’ reaction in the heat of the moment.

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