Manchester United suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of fierce rivals Leeds United at Old Trafford on their return to Premier League action on Monday night.

The team last played 24 days ago, and the rustiness showed as the visitors raced to a 2-0 lead within the first 30 minutes with Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte underwhelming.

To make matters worse, referee Paul Tierney made the horrendous decision to send Lisandro Martinez off for tugging on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair.

While the Argentine was at fault to some extent, it was a very harsh call, something both Michael Carrick and skipper Bruno Fernandes did not agree with.

When asked to rate the referee’s display, the club captain recreated the famous Jose Mourinho meme, refusing to elaborate on Tierney to avoid further punishment.

“I’m not talking about the referee,” Fernandes told Sky after the game. “If I talk about the ref, I’m going to get in very big trouble because the rules are different and applied different for everyone. The difference in yellow cards, you can also see it. It’s better that I don’t say anything.”

– Monday, 13 April 2026

Leny Yoro was fouled in the build-up to the first goal, and so was the Portuguese superstar . But the referee nor VAR intervened.

However, it was also true that the Red Devils produced one of their worst first-half displays in recent memory. And Bruno Fernandes agreed with that statement.

He also refused to use the rustiness as an excuse, pointing to United’s own inability to progress in the FA Cup as the reason for the lack of games this month.

“We knew they wanted to press us 1v1. We had to be better on the first ball and even better on the second. We weren’t great. We gave too much space away and went 2-nil down.

“It is what it is. We had off for the FA Cup so we have ourselves to blame to be out of the game for so long. We have to prepare ourselves in the best way. We did it.”

Despite the loss, United remain third and their clash against Chelsea next Saturday has turned into a potential must-win encounter as the 20-time English league champions look to finish in the top five to secure Champions League qualification.

Feature image Michael Regan via Getty Images

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