How Brentford distracted Bruno Fernandes with clever trick causing Man United penalty miss

Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty during Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Brentford, following a pre-kick tactic by the hosts, according to TNT Sport co-commentator Lucy Ward.

Ruben Amorim’s side fell to a 3-1 defeat at the G-Tech Community Stadium on Saturday. Igor Thiago scored twice in the first half before Benjamin Sesko pulled a goal back.

United earned a chance to equalise after Nathan Collins brought down Bryan Mbeumo inside the box following Matheus Cunha’s cross. Referee Craig Pawson initially awarded a penalty and reviewed the incident with the Video Assistant Referee for a potential red card.

Collins avoided a sending off, but Fernandes saw his spot-kick saved by Caoimhin Kelleher

Before taking the penalty, Fernandes was forced to wait five minutes while checks were carried out. Brentford manager Keith Andrews also made a double substitution, adding to the delay.

Ward, speaking on TNT, said that Brentford's tactic to disrupt Fernandes worked. "He (Keith Andrews) did that on purpose and he's got his reward for it," she said.

On X (formerly known as Twitter), the Premier League Match Centre explained the reason why Nathan Collins did not get sent off.

It read: "The referee’s call of penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Collins deemed to pulled Mbeumo back. VAR also checked the referee’s call of yellow card to Collins - and deemed that Mbeumo wasn’t in control of the ball.

This weekend, Mbeumo returned to his old stomping ground following a £71m move to United in the summer. Speaking to reporters ahead of the match, Ruben Amorim explained just how important the 26-year-old forward has become for his side.

"It's really important for everything that he has been doing," said the Reds boss.