Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag defended Casemiro following his Premier League red card against bottom club Southampton, which has resulted in a four-match ban.
Casemiro was sent off for a tackle on Carlos Alcaraz after 34 minutes of the 0-0 draw, but Ten Hag has not ruled out an appeal.
After a VAR review, referee Anthony Taylor reversed his initial decision to show a yellow card for a tackle that hit the top of the ball first before going into Southampton forward Alcaraz’s leg.
Because Casemiro was also sent off against Crystal Palace last month, an additional game will be added to his automatic three-match ban, meaning he won’t be able to play another domestic match until the visit of Nottingham Forest on April 15.
“When you freeze anything, it looks bad – but anyone who knows anything about top football knows what is bad and what is fair,” Ten Hag explained. “And Casemiro is an extremely fair player. Fair but tough.
“It shows, he had played over 500 games in big leagues and never been sent off. It has now happened twice.”
Ten Hag expressed dissatisfaction with the use of VAR, claiming that the referee was not sent to the monitor to review controversial incidents in Saturday’s game between Leicester and Chelsea.
Despite having a man advantage for nearly an hour and attempting 17 shots, Southampton were unable to capitalize and remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.
Even before Casemiro’s injury, David de Gea had to make a brilliant reaction save to keep Theo Walcott’s close-range header out.