Michael Carrick baffled and astonished by refereeing decisions at Bournemouth
By Edward Elliot, Press Association
Michael Carrick branded the decisions of referee Stuart Attwell “baffling” and “astonishing” after Manchester United suffered perceived penalty injustice in a dramatic 2-2 Premier League draw away to Bournemouth.
United went ahead in the 61st minute at Vitality Stadium when Bruno Fernandes converted from 12 yards following Alex Jimenez’s shirt pull on Matheus Cunha.
The visitors then felt aggrieved to be denied a second spot-kick after Amad Diallo went to ground under a challenge from Adrien Truffert, moments before Cherries captain Ryan Christie equalised.
James Hill’s own goal quickly restored United’s lead but Bournemouth claimed a point nine minutes from time through Junior Kroupi’s penalty after Harry Maguire was sent off by Attwell for a foul on Evanilson.
Speaking of the incidents involving Cunha and Diallo, head coach Carrick said: “He’s definitely got one of them wrong because he’s given one penalty for us for the same thing that he’s not given one.
“There’s a two-arm grab. The Matheus one he gives, the second one on Amad he doesn’t, which I think is almost identical, really.
“If you have two hands on someone in the box and they go over and they’re in control of the ball, for me it’s two penalties.
“It will be interesting to see which one they acknowledge is wrong: the one we got or the one we didn’t get.
“It’s a huge moment. They don’t give it, they go down the other end and score and then it becomes all of a sudden, ‘oh, it needs to be a bigger penalty to overturn’, just because they scored, when actually it’s a penalty and it should be a penalty if you’ve already given one.
“It’s baffling really to make sense of that. And because they score, the game flips a little bit and changes.
“We defended with the 10 men after all that very well. But the penalty one is just astonishing, I have to say. One of them must be wrong.”
In the battle for Champions League qualification, United missed the chance to cut the gap to second-placed Manchester City to four points going into the international break and will instead be looking over their shoulders at the chasing pack of Aston Villa, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Maguire’s costly dismissal tempered a day which began with him being recalled to the England squad for the first time since September 2024.
The 33-year-old reacted angrily to the decision, including shouting in the face of fourth official Matthew Donohue as he left the pitch.
Asked about Maguire, Carrick said: “I’ve not really spoken to Harry, to be honest, and I’ve not seen the actual incident back.”
Third-placed United dropped points for only the third time in 10 top-flight fixtures under Carrick.
Iraola reacts to the eventful #BOUMUN ð
— AFC Bournemouth ð (@afcbournemouth) March 20, 2026
Bournemouth, meanwhile, remain 10th after stretching their unbeaten run to 11 games with a fifth-consecutive draw and 15th of the season.
Cherries boss Andoni Iraola, who referenced another potential penalty incident involving Maguire and Evanilson in the first half, was satisfied with the officiating.
“I think there are four incidents,” he said. “I think the two penalties they’ve called are clear penalties. The defenders in both situations, they lose their positions and they have to commit the foul.
“The Amad (possible) penalty, I don’t think it’s a penalty, there is no contact low.
“We complained also about the first half two hands behind the back, Maguire against Evanilson, but I don’t think it’s enough also in the same way to call a penalty.
“I think the decisions in the four cases have been correct. At least in the big decisions, I think they’ve got it right.”
