BBC Sport pundit accuses Bruno Fernandes of cheap shot on Everton midfielder Amadou Onana
Bruno Fernandes used a “real cheap shot” on Amadou Onana as Everton were knocked out of the FA Cup at Manchester United, according to Alan Stubbs.
Just inside the opening half-hour at Old Trafford the Manchester United captain on the night stepped on the Toffees midfielder and left his studs on him to receive a booking.
Stubbs was far from impressed with the challenge which he felt went beyond a mistake and was actually an underhand move from the Portugal international.
Speaking live on BBC Radio Merseyside, via the BBC Sport live-blog, the former club captain said: “It’s a real cheap shot from Bruno Fernandes. He puts his studs down Onana’s calf and it’s certainly worthy of a yellow card.”
Painful
The Fernandes challenge was emblematic of a painful night all round for Everton as they were knocked out of the FA Cup at the first opportunity, despite showing a decent amount of fight in comparison to some recent outings.
Star man Alex Iwobi was stretchered off in the second half with a serious-looking injury, Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR, and Ben Godfrey conceded a soft penalty at the death.
The 3-1 scoreline was arguably harsh on Frank Lampard’s side but doesn’t lift much pressure on the embattled manager.
Out of both domestic cups and in the relegation zone in the Premier League, he saw his side go behind almost immediately on Friday night (6 January), which threatened a real hiding.
But after stand-out Demarai Gray almost fired in from outside the area David de Gea committed a huge error to allow Conor Coady to equalise.
From there the visitors were unlucky to finish on the wrong side of the scoreline, given the marginal nature of both the offside call and the penalty, but the questions around Lampard’s future will only increase from here.