Manchester United reacted angrily to what they described as baffling refereeing after a chaotic 2-2 draw at Bournemouth, a game in which two penalties were awarded and another was not. The match was punctuated by three controversial incidents that overshadowed Harry Maguire’s England recall and eventual sending-off.
Maguire was dismissed late on for pulling Evanilson back in the box, a straight red card that led to a Bournemouth penalty converted by Junior Kroupi. Earlier, though, United had a spot-kick appeal rejected when Amad Diallo appeared to be held by Adrien Truffert inside the area while United led 1-0 from a Bruno Fernandes penalty. Interim manager Michael Carrick described the officiating as ‘baffling’, saying the two challenges looked ‘almost identical’ and that he could not understand how one was punished and the other not.
Fernandes also questioned the inconsistency, pointing out that United might have been 2-0 up and asking why VAR did not intervene after the Diallo incident if a similar foul produced Bournemouth’s later penalty. ‘One is awarded as a penalty, the other one not,’ he said, adding that he did not understand why VAR did not get involved.
The match sprang into life after a goalless first half. United were given a penalty when Alex Jimenez tugged back Matheus Cunha, and Fernandes sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to open the scoring. Shortly after, Diallo went down following contact from Truffert but no foul was given; Bournemouth then equalised through Ryan Christie. United briefly retook the lead when James Hill turned a Fernandes corner into his own net, only for Maguire’s dismissal to hand Bournemouth a late chance which they took.
The Premier League match centre later confirmed that VAR checked the Diallo challenge and agreed the on-field decision that the contact was insufficient to merit a penalty. VAR also backed the red card for Maguire, describing it as a holding offence with no attempt to play the ball and denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Former United striker Andy Cole questioned why the two incidents were treated differently, while Jamie Redknapp suggested both decisions were understandable — calling Maguire’s sending-off clear and the Truffert challenge borderline. Neither incident led to a pitchside VAR review because the technology intervenes only for clear and obvious errors rather than to enforce perfect consistency. That limited-remit approach aims to reduce VAR intrusions but can leave supporters frustrated when similar-looking actions produce different outcomes.
