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Erik ten Hag was furious with Maurizio Mariani’s performance in Manchester United’s 2-2 draw at Barcelona on Thursday, saying the referee made a clear mistake by not sending off Jules Kounde for a second-half challenge on Marcus Rashford.
Man Utd fought back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 thanks to Rashford’s rasping strike and Kounde’s own goal, and should have seen Barcelona reduced to 10 men when the defender clipped the England international from behind as he set up the goal.
The incident took place outside Barcelona’s territory which meant that, as the last man, Kounde had to be sent off.
However, Mariani and the VAR officials ruled there was no foul, and Barcelona leveled less than 15 minutes later through Raphinha to leave the scores level at 2-2 ahead of the second leg of the knockout round play-off at Old Trafford.
Talk to bt sports after the game, Ten Hag – who was booked for arguing after Kounde tackled Rashford – said: “The referee had a big influence on this game. It was clearly a foul on Rashy.
“You can discuss whether it’s in or out of the box. [If it’s out then] it was a red card because he was one with the ‘keeper. That’s a big influence, not only in this game but in this round.
“No way. The referee can’t make this mistake. We have to win this game.”
However, Ten Hag was pleased with his team’s performance in the first-leg draw after a thrilling encounter at the Nou Camp.
“I think he dictated the game, except for 15 minutes in the first half,” said the Man Utd boss.. “We had a lot of chances, so I was a bit disappointed because at half-time it was 0-0. The chances we had, we created ourselves.
“But it was a good game – two attacking teams. The Champions League – maybe more than that. I really enjoyed the game.
“It ended up being 2-2 and we have to settle it at Old Trafford.”
Erik ten Hag was booked after an angry reaction to the decision not to send Jules Kounde
Rashford: It was a massive moment in the game
Rashford was as shocked as Ten Hag by the officials’ decision not to award a free-kick and Kounde’s red card which will rule the France international out of the replay in seven days.
“It was a big moment in the game,” Rashford said BT sports. “I haven’t watched it again, but now I don’t know why the line judge or the referee thought I was going to go down there.
“I had touched him and my foot was in front of the ball, he hit my foot and it was clear contact. It was not a penalty but 100 percent foul.”
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While Ten Hag was optimistic about Man Utd’s performance, Rashford struck a more pessimistic tone, saying: “It feels like defeat.
“We did well to get back into the game. The first half might have favored them a bit, but we stayed calm and tried to create chances when we could.
“In the second half we scored two quick goals and we felt we could control the result. But they are a good team with good players and they managed to get the equaliser.”
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