Manchester City fans were left fuming during an incident involving Bruno Fernandes on Wednesday night.
Manchester United were taking on Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and were just about able to scrape into the quarter-finals thanks to Casemiro’s late winner.
Erik ten Hag’s side have been rewarded with a tie against Liverpool for their troubles, whereas Manchester City will take on Newcastle United.
City fans who were watching United’s struggles ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby were left angry after one incident late in the game.
Bruno Fernandes had a coming together with Forest’s Felipe at which point the Brazilian defender grabbed his opponent by the throat.
The United captain swiped Felipe’s hand away and the brief altercation was then split up.
However, Felipe faced no punishment for his violent conduct towards Fernandes even with VAR in operation.
City fans were immediately baffled by the decision given Rodri was sent off for a very similar incident against the exact same team earlier this season.
Rodri raised his hands to Morgan Gibbs-White’s neck, who then threw himself to the floor and got the Spaniard a red card.
Now some City fans are fuming Felipe didn’t face the same punishment.
Man City fans react to Bruno Fernandes and Felipe incident
Taking to X after the incident, City fans expressed their confusion as to why Felipe wasn’t shown a red card for something Rodri was dismissed for.
It was a costly red card
What makes the situation even more frustrating is the red card was extremely costly for City.
They managed to hold on to beat Forest but then went on to lose all three games Rodri was suspended for.
Two of those came in the Premier League to Wolves and Arsenal, seeing City drop a vital six points in the title race.
Given City have not lost with Rodri in the starting XI for well over a year now and how important he is to the team, there’s a good chance they would have won those games if the midfielder was available.
Rodri’s red against Forest was probably deserved but his digression was nowhere near as bad as Felipe’s and it’s maddening that punishment is not consistent.
