Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has shared his reaction to the controversial incident involving Matthijs de Ligt in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Brentford at Old Trafford.
Matthijs de Ligt returned to the starting XI for Manchester United’s first Premier League match in the post-October break and featured alongside Jonny Evans.
However, the 25-year-old Dutch centre-back suffered an early cut after he was caught by the knee of Brentford striker Kevin Schade in a collision.
De Ligt was cut open and the United defender was forced to leave the pitch twice to receive treatment before the third time led to Brentford’s opener on Saturday.
The United star was forced off the pitch by referee Sam Barrott before a corner in first-half injury time, with De Ligt watching on from the sidelines while being treated.
However, Ethan Pinnock broke the deadlock for Brentford after firing a header past Andre Onana and putting Thomas Frank’s men into the lead going into half-time.
Gallagher reacts to Man Utd star De Ligt
Manchester United rallied back into the Premier League contest in the second half, with Alejandro Garnacho cancelling out Ethan Pinnock’s first-half opener.
Rasmus Hojlund then scored United’s second to put the Red Devils in control of the match at Old Trafford, with Erik ten Hag’s men sealing all three points.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Dermot Gallagher reacted to the first-half incident involving Matthijs de Ligt and didn’t blame Sam Barrott for his decision.
“You can’t have a player bleeding,” he said.
“It happened in the 11th minute, he had treatment, he came back. It’s opened up again he’s gone off. And then a third time.
“You can’t play like that, we all know that. He has to have it bandaged in some way.
“They’re down to 10 and a goal resulted from it but that’s not the ref’s fault. You can’t have blood on your body, on your shirt.
“The referee has done exactly right. He’s not the villain here.”
Ten Hag on keeping De Ligt on the pitch
De Ligt saw out the full 90 minutes of the match at Old Trafford and United walked away with their third Premier League win of the season.
Speaking after the Brentford result, United manager Erik ten Hag admitted De Ligt told him that he was able to keep playing on, despite his head cut in the first half.
“He was okay, that’s what he told me,” he said.
“That’s what I asked him when he came off: ‘Is there a problem?’ No, he was 100 per cent there, not any time [was] there a doubt to take him off.
“I wasn’t furious, but I just was asking my player how he is. He said, ‘It’s just dry blood, it’s not bleeding,’ so we are really surprised that he has to come off.”
United will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Turkey for their clash with Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce side in the Europa League.
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