Injury to insult.
Marouane Fellaini is a very lucky boy. Not only did the lanky Belgian avoid substitution despite a decidedly abject performance against Liverpool on Thursday night, but he somehow escaped a sending off from card-happy ref Carlos Carballo.
It could be argued that he did enough to earn two yellows in the 90 minutes instead of the one he received, but his malicious antics in the dying seconds of the game were absolutely deserving of a straight red.
With the referee focusing on the play, and the final whistle imminent, Fellaini was involved in a scuffle with Liverpool’s Emre Can on the edge of the home side’s penalty area.
Not appreciative of the German’s close attentions, he aimed a vicious elbow to his marker’s cheek. It went unseen and unpunished. Whether UEFA now seek to take retrospective action remains to be seen.
