Neville expresses fear over Casemiro appeal as ‘disrespectful’ Man Utd star is blamed for his red card

Gary Neville thinks Man Utd would be taking “too big a risk to appeal” Casemiro’s sending off with the League Cup final around the corner.

The Brazilian was sent off for putting his hands around Will Hughes’ throat in the Red Devils’ 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace over the weekend.

As it stands, Casemiro will miss back-to-back Premier League matches for Man Utd against Leeds and another league clash with Leicester City.

But Neville is worried that if Man Utd appeal and fail that the Football Association could ban him for longer, meaning he would miss their League Cup final against Newcastle at the end of the month.

“I thought it was a harsh red card but Erik ten Hag summed it up perfectly when he said Casemiro took a risk,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast. “When you put two hands on someone like that you’ve got an issue.

“He’s fantastic at winning the ball back, he takes chances and loves a tackle and he usually gets away with it. But he’s been done a couple of times now.

“When you freeze it, it doesn’t look great because it looks like he’s strangling him. He’ll never get off, in fact it would be too big a risk to appeal as the FA could increase it.

“Man United won’t appeal it. They’ve got two games against Leeds and one against Leicester, I think they will think they can get through those three games without him.

“Ten Hag will be disappointed though because it’s been a bit stop-start with Casemiro and he’s been their most important player. He’s held them together in midfield and Eriksen is out as well.

“They will be without him for three games. I don’t actually think he’s got him around the neck but it does look like that so they won’t appeal it.”

But former Crystal Palace star Darren Ambrose thinks Casemiro was right to be sent off but Antony should take a large chunk of the blame because of his showboating.

Ambrose told talkSPORT: “Can we go back to why this all happened?

“I was at the game and about 30 seconds before the incident, Antony picked the ball up and he tried to rainbow flick it over Jeffrey Schlupp and Tyrick Mitchell.

“I was working with [former Manchester United defender] Danny Simpson and we both went: ‘Ooh.’ We both agreed that the next time he gets the ball, he could be in trouble.

“They were 2-0 up, cruising, he didn’t need to do that. There’s showboating and expressing yourself and then there’s disrespect and that’s what I think happened.

“Antony only got a push really but that’s why Schlupp walked towards him and probably mouthed something at him.

“The reaction after from Antony wasn’t warranted in my opinion. It was a little push from Schlupp, a little cynical foul. It looked worse because it slid down and went into the advertising board a bit.

“But the Manchester United players didn’t need to get involved like that. Erik ten Hag has praised them for protecting their team-mate but they were 2-0 up.

“If they didn’t react there would have been one yellow card, for Jeffrey Schlupp. It was an over-reaction, there was red mist and it’s definitely a red card.”

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