Manchester United tightened their grip on second place on Saturday afternoon.
A 2-1 victory over old foes Liverpool saw them open up a five-point gap over their rivals, a result that goes a long way to guaranteeing the club are back in the Champions League next season.
Marcus Rashford was responsible for both United’s goals before half-time, but was later replaced by Marouane Fellaini as Jose Mourinho looked to close out the game.
The decision to bring off Rashford, whose pace on the counter seemed to be a good outlet for United in the game’s closing stages, clearly came as a surprise to many of those in attendance at Old Trafford.
Speaking after the game, Mourinho explained how Gary Neville had played a part in the decision to substitute the 20-year-old.
Rashford had been booked by Craig Pawson for a first-half foul on James Milner, and Neville – on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports – suggested he might have been shown a second yellow for a separate challenge on Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Wary that the referee might have been influenced by Neville’s comments, Mourinho said this partly contributed to his decision to bring him off.
“At half-time somebody told me that Gary Neville was asking for Marcus Rashford to get a red card,” Mourinho said.
“I was scared because I thought maybe the referee was watching at half-time and was influenced by Gary.”
Jose Mourinho says he took Rashford off because @GNev2 was asking for a red card 👀 pic.twitter.com/DbTivuKj7W
— BeanymanSports (@BeanymanSports) March 10, 2018
Fortunately, it seems Neville saw the funny side to the United boss’ comments.
😂😂😂😂😂😂!! https://t.co/uFsjTm20Qw
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) March 10, 2018
