Video: Eric Bailly’s Lucky Escape From Red Card Against Zorya Luhansk
Dec 9, 2016 at 12:42 PM
Eric Bailly showed exactly what Jose Mourinho and Manchester United have been missing on his return to the side against Zorya Luhansk.
The Ivorian had been out of action for five weeks after suffering knee ligament damage in the defeat to Chelsea back in October but looked like he had never been away on Thursday night.
However, a series of impressive challenges and interceptions throughout the match were nearly overshadowed by a stupid reaction to a tackle in the dying seconds of the game.
Bailly, who had already been booked earlier, risked being shown a red card by referee Tamas Bognar after coming together with Jaba Lipartia.
Immediately after winning the ball from Luhansk’s Ivan Petryak, Bailly was tackled by Lipartia and appeared to kick out at the Georgian international.
As you can see in the video below, the Man United centre-back can count himself extremely fortunate to escape being punished by the referee who, after seeing the altercation, remarkably awarded a free kick in Bailly’s favour.
With the 22-year-old already set to miss a large chunk of the season after Christmas while he plays for the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations, a suspension is the last thing Mourinho would want for Bailly.
Nevertheless, goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in the end, proved enough for the Red Devils to overcome a potentially tricky trip to Ukraine and guarantee progression into the next round of the Europa League.
United’s troubled start to the Premier League campaign means they already face an uphill task trying to break into the top four.
Therefore Mourinho and co. may well have to take these Thursday night encounters more seriously to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League alive.