Manchester United’s first half against Bournemouth seemed fairly run of the mill for the most part, then things got interesting inside the last ten minutes before the break.
United should have been out of sight already, having created a lot of chances, when Rojo put them ahead. Shortly afterwards, a clumsy challenge from Phil Jones saw Bournemouth awarded a penalty – which ex-United man Josh King cooly converted to make it 1-1.
But the drama was only just beginning. At first unnoticed by Sky cameras and almost everyone else, Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings stamped on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s head, seemingly deliberately, with some force…
Twitter: Mings stamp on Zlatan https://t.co/AdivMgObnU (@UTDdigest)
It’s fair to say that is disgusting behaviour, if he did indeed mean that stamp – but Ibrahimovic wasn’t happy to let it go, as you’d probably expect. He got his revenge soon after, when he elbowed Mings at a corner, and again, it looked deliberate.
Twitter: Zlatan deserved straight red for that deliberate elbow
https://t.co/qeVPSDid2e (@Ryder30k)
Andy Surman also fancied a bit of the action, and shoved Ibrahimovic immediately after that, earning himself a second yellow card just before half time.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the whole sequence of events…
Twitter: Mings stamp on Zlatan’s head deserves a lengthy ban. Disgusting. I fully sympathise with Zlatan for cracking him with the elbow. #MUFC (@BilboRocky)
Twitter: Mings needs to get arrested and ibra needs a 5 game ban (@LeKingCoq)
Twitter: Don’t blame Ibra for the elbow, anyone after that stamp would’ve retaliated in the same way. Still if the refs seen it he should be off! (@Stream_Planet)
Some bigger names weighed in, too!
Twitter: I wouldn’t normally defend an elbow to the face but Mings’ stamp on Ibra’s head was so disgusting he deserved what… https://t.co/OLXt8kDCis (@piersmorgan)
Twitter: Thierry Henry: “If someone did that [Mings stamp on Ibra] to me, then no-one saw it, unfortunately I’d try to do something back” (@JamesBrowning96)
And the nightmare has strengthened the case for video replays in the Premier League…
Twitter: Zlatan (elbow) and Mings (stamp) should both see red. Roll on video technology. (@henrywinter)
Twitter: In the time it took for Kevin Friend to talk to players, collect evidence and still get it wrong…you could have had VARs’ verdict. (@henrywinter)
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