Barcelona ace has say on red card escape and praises ‘challenging’ Man Utd player

Manchester United return to action against Barcelona in the Europa League and the game is currently 2-2 after the first leg. Defender Jules Kounde was fortunate not to have been sent off at the Nou Camp and escaped a potential red card.

He tripped up Marcus Rashford but Maurizio Mariani missed it. The centre-back, who joined last summer from Sevilla, would have been suspended for the trip to Old Trafford.

Prior to his side’s clash against United, Kounde has had his say on the incident last week: “I think it was 50/50. There is contact but I think it was very light and the ref decided to not give me a red card. I don’t feel lucky and it was a decision of the ref. I could have been sent off but the ref decided not to.”

Rashford has been in fine form over recent times and was on the scoresheet for the Red Devils in the first leg. Kounde is expecting another difficult evening against the attacker and has delivered his verdict on the England international: “I think he is very versatile player.

“He is very fast so it makes it very difficult. He is great at reading pace and it is always challenging to play against this sort of player. But it’s a collective and he has great team-mates around him.”

United have a busy schedule and Erik ten Hag has some selection decisions to make. Games are coming thick and fast and they will be hoping to use their home atmosphere to their advantage as they look to progress into the next round.

They then take on Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup at Wembley at the weekend. The club last won that competition back in 2017.