If the sight of Hector Moreno scoring the equaliser after breaking Luke Shaw’s leg in two places was not hard enough to stomach for Manchester United fans, the ultimate insult came at the end of their Champions League game against PSV Eindhoven.
Moreno was visibly shocked after his thumping tackle on Shaw left the United left-back with a double leg break when his trailing leg swept round and collided with Shaw’s right leg.
The Mexico international was not even booked for the incident, with United being awarded a corner, and he went on to draw his side level before Luciano Narsingh headed PSV into the lead for a 2-1 win.
Louis van Gaal described Moreno’s challenge as “a very bad tackle with two legs”, even if his leading leg did take the ball, while former referee Graham Poll wrote in the Daily Mail that “Moreno showed no regard for his opponent’s safety when he flew in to tackle Shaw … his leading leg might have touched the ball but the way he entered into the challenge – at pace and off the ground – he had no control over his actions.”
So it was with some bemusement that fans and journalists received the news that Moreno had in fact been named UEFA’s man of the match.
UEFA tried to explain their decision without making any reference to the Shaw incident.Their official match report described the incident in these terms though: “The visitors suffered an early blow when Luke Shaw was stretchered off after Héctor Moreno blocked his surge into the box.”
- Source: Eurosport
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