Man Utd star Matic escapes three-match ban for kneeing West Ham’s Coufal in the privates after referee spotted incident
NEMANJA MATIC will NOT face any FA action despite kneeing Vladimir Coufal in the privates.
Manchester United star Matic aimed a shot at the midriff of Coufal after a challenge during West Ham’s Carabao Cup win on Wednesday night.
It appeared referee Jon Moss had failed to spot the incident, leaving fears the Serbian would be hit with a retrospective violent conduct charge from the FA.
But SunSport understands Moss’ report landed at Wembley on Thursday morning where he made it clear he had seen what happened.
And because the match officials saw and dealt with the clash in real time, FA regulations mean no further action can be taken so Matic will escape a three match ban.
The Serb lashed out at the Hammers right-back as United lost 1-0 – with fans assuming it was missed because VAR wasn’t being used.
Manuel Lanzini’s early goal gave the East Londoners their first win at Old Trafford since 2007.
But the Argentine had to leave the pitch after the Coufal incident thanks to ANOTHER bad challenge from Matic.
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The United holding midfielder’s first lucky escape came just before the hour mark.
Coufal – who came off the bench to replace injured Ryan Fredericks early on – had the ball by the sideline as Matic tried to shut him down.
The Czech quickly tried to move the ball on and played it off Matic’s shins and out of play.
But the midfielder followed through and lashed out by kneeing the right-back in the groin.
Coufal went down and appealed to the nearby fourth official – though he did not make a meal of it.
Matic ran off as if nothing as happened and appeared to get away with it because there was no VAR for the Carabao Cup tie.
However Moss has since confirmed he saw it during the game.
Matic doubled down on his good fortune with a nasty tackle on matchwinner Lanzini later in the game.
The former Chelsea man raked his studs down the Argentine’s ankle after a late challenge and the ref missed it again.
Lanzini was subbed off injured as a result soon after.
Fans online were furious Matic got away with both challenges but particularly his sneaky knee on Coufal.
‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN A RED’
After Aouar claimed it wasn’t even a foul, Pete replied and wrote: “I’ll come and knee you in the b******s and then see what you think.”
Brendan tweeted: “VAR wouldn’t have done anything anyway.
“You must be forgetting it goes blind whenever a United player does anything wrong.”
Batesy said: “If that happened to Fernandes he would’ve been rolling around on the ground for at least five mins.”
Chris asked: “Why would you need VAR to spot that, surely one of the four officials would have spotted that.”
Michael simply added: “Should have been a red.”
Before Dylan chimed in with: “Yet United fans constantly cry about referees ‘hating’ them and giving them no decisions.
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“VAR could easily see that as violent conduct.”
David Moyes recorded his first win over United since being sacked as their manager with the victory.
But the Hammers‘ bubbles were slightly faded soon after the final whistle as they were drawn at home to perennial Carabao Cup winners Manchester City in the next round.
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