Ole Gunnar Solskjaer plays down Edinson Cavani incident with Yerry Mina during Manchester United victory

Uruguayan reacted to Mina by grabbing him by the neck and pushing him to the ground but his manager played down the seriousness of the incident during United’s 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final win

Shrivathsa Sridhar
Thursday 24 December 2020 08:40 GMT
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Edinson Cavani escaped any action for grabbing Yerry Mina by the throat during Manchester United’s win over Everton
Edinson Cavani escaped any action for grabbing Yerry Mina by the throat during Manchester United’s win over Everton (Getty)
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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has played down an off-the-ball incident involving striker Edinson Cavani and Everton defender Yerry Mina in their 2-0 League Cup quarter-final victory at Goodison Park on Wednesday.

Cavani, who scored two minutes from time before Anthony Martial netted United's second, received only a verbal warning from referee Bobby Madley after shoving Mina to the ground with his hands close to the Colombian's throat in the opening half.

No further action was taken as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is absent in the competition until the semi-finals and Solskjaer said there was "nothing in it" despite TV replays showing that Uruguayan Cavani was lucky to escape sanction.

"Two South Americans that have had a few battles before, they met in Copa America qualifiers so, no, this was a proper game of football," Solskjaer told Sky Sports.

READ MORE: Manchester United to face Man City in Carabao Cup semi-finals

"With fans, tackles, yellow cards and chances at both ends, I enjoyed it... He (Cavani) is a top striker, the movement, the quality and the left-foot strike was excellent."

Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti said that he did not discuss the matter with his players at the end of the game.

"The rules are that VAR does not happen in the game and so if the referee decides that Cavani did not do anything wrong then we need to accept this. Full stop," Ancelotti said.

United next face local rivals Manchester City in the semi-finals of the competition.

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Reuters

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