Man Utd and Crystal Palace stars clash in fiery brawl after Ayew’s ‘completely unnecessary’ challenge on Bruno Fernandes
FRED and Bruno Fernandes were involved in an angry spat with Jordan Ayew during Manchester United’s friendly win over Crystal Palace.
The Red Devils were in action this afternoon in Melbourne against their Premier League rivals as they continued their tour of Australia.
Goals from Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho secured a 3-1 victory and made it three wins from three so far in pre-season.
Joel Ward did get one back for Palace, but despite United youngster Will Fish getting red carded, they were unable to mount a comeback.
Even though the game was only a friendly, things threatened to boil over just before the hour mark.
Ayew went in hard for a tackle on Fernandes, something which infuriated United’s players.
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Brazilian midfielder Fred was first on the scene as he squared up to the Palace ace while his manager Erik ten Hag vented his fury on tackle to the fourth official.
Fred proceeded to push Ayew, who received a booking for the challenge, as other players were then held back as things threatened to boil over.
Even the commentators could not believe what they were watching, as they described Ayew’s tackle as “completely unnecessary”.
Fortunately things soon calmed down, but that did not stop Palace star Jean-Philippe Mateta from producing another full-blooded tackle on Donny van de Beek just minutes later.
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Meanwhile, skipper Harry Maguire was BOOED by fans whenever he touched the ball during the game.
The 29-year-old, who was also booed by England supporters in March during the friendly against Ivory Coast, started for the Red Devils.
But he was subject to a chorus of loud boos from inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground whenever he was in possession of the ball during the 3-1 victory.
To make matters worse, the majority of fans watching from the stands were wearing United shirts.
Maguire even sent a ten-yard pass straight out of play as he struggled to deal with the early boos.
