Casemiro’s red card for ‘strangling’ Will Hughes has caused a massive uproar among Manchester United fans who demanded justice through an appeal as they think he didn’t strangle him and was just holding him off. The incident happened in the Premier League game as the two sides met on Saturday, February 4th, 2023.
Casemiro was shown the red card by the VAR after the on-field referee had booked Antony and Jeffrey Schlupp, who were initiators of the skirmish that followed Casemiro’s booking. Schlupp shoved Antony into the advertising boards which was followed by a reaction from the Brazillian and his fellow teammates which led to a massive fight.
The decision to book Casemiro seemed controversial because it felt like he was not actually trying to strangle Hughes but was trying to hold him off from the fight and certain angles showed him hugging the Crystal Palace midfielder afterward.
A video has gone viral over the Internet that shows a different angle than the one used by VAR and has left Man Utd fans fuming as it seems like there was no strangling and the red card shouldn’t have been given.
Marcus Rashford scores his 𝟏𝟎𝐭𝐡 goal since returning from the World Cup 👉😤 pic.twitter.com/xFkfDOkBUB
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 4, 2023
Manchester United was sitting in pole position in the 70th minute after Bruno Fernandes converted an early penalty won after Hughes’s handball. Marcus Rashford continued his red-hot form in front of goal as he doubled the lead for the Red Devils in the 62nd minute tucking in a well-constructed move by Erik Ten Hag’s men.
The match seemed going into the hands of Manchester United but the red card to Casemiro put the hosts to 10 men. This was the time for Crystal Palace to come back into the game and they did through Jeffrey Schlupp scoring through a corner in the 76th minute.
It seemed like another late Palace comeback was on the cards for United but Erik ten Hag bought on new signing Marcel Sabitzer, Harry Maguire, and Victor Lindelof who saw Manchester United home. The decision would have been termed even more controversial had Crystal Palace managed to score an equalizer.
A new angle of the brawl that led to Casemiro’s red card. 🎥
— UtdDistrict (@UtdDistrict) February 4, 2023
The booking means that Casemiro will now miss United’s Premier League games against Leeds United (Home), Leeds United (Away), and Leicester City. Man United can appeal against the booking but that can result in the suspension extending to 4 games which can result in Casemiro missing the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United.
It remains to be seen whether the Old Trafford side will appeal against the ban and risk Casemiro missing the League Cup final but Man Utd fans want them to appeal and demand justice.
Manchester United Fans react as Casemiro gets sent off for “poor” hand placement
We went to Twitter to take a look at how Man Utd fans reacted to a video that showed a different angle of the Casemiro incident:
A fan could be seen trying to have a rational take on the incident and admitted that Casemiro’s hand was at Hughes’s neck but demanded to keep in mind the whole context and believed that Casemiro was trying to calm Hughes down. They also believed that the decision won’t be overturned.
They wrote: “Obviously Casemiro’s hand placement is poor but also have to use some context here – he’s backing up and saying calm down. Doubt it gets overturned though”
Obviously Casemiro’s hand placement is poor but also have to use some context here – he’s backing up and saying calm down. Doubt it gets overturned though
— Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT (@3cbPerformance) February 4, 2023
Another fan could be seen criticizing the VAR as fans think that the VAR tends to look at incidents in slow motion which isn’t right and tends to portray incidents worse than they actually are in real-time. In this incident, the real-time video showed that Casemiro was holding Hughes off but the slow motions showed him ‘strangling’ Hughes.
They wrote: “Shocker. Doesn’t look anyway near as bad or long when it isn’t in slow motion. This has to be appealed.”
Shocker. Doesn’t look anyway near as bad or long when it isn’t in slow motion. This has to be appealed.
— Field 👓 (@RP_Field) February 4, 2023
We saw another fan who felt like it is very absurd that the VAR uses only one camera angle to make such huge decisions. They believed that more technology should be used to get to the root of the incident as the other camera angles show Casemiro to only holding Hughes off and not strangling him.
They wrote: “That is so not a red wow too bad VAR uses one single frame from one single camera angle to make huge decisions like this”
That is so not a red wow too bad VAR uses one single frame from one single camera angle to make huge decisions like this
— RM (@RishMUFC) February 4, 2023
It seems like the booking hasn’t gone well with the Red Devils supporters as Casemiro has been very pivotal to their resurgence under ten Hag and has been commanding the midfield for them. It remains to be seen whether United will appeal the FA for the booking against him.