UEFA clear Cunha of further ban after Man Utd forward re-entered pitch post red card

Matheus Cunha will serve only the standard one-match ban after UEFA confirmed it will not extend his suspension despite the Manchester United forward re-entering the pitch after being sent off in stoppage time of a 3-2 Champions League victory over Roma.

The 27-year-old Brazilian received his second yellow card late in the tie for a reckless tackle, having earned his first booking earlier in the match for removing his shirt and diving into the crowd after scoring the winning goal. Rather than heading straight down the tunnel, Cunha lingered on the sidelines until the final whistle, then stepped back onto the pitch before manager Michael Carrick intervened and ushered him away.

UEFA moved quickly to clarify the situation, stating: “The UEFA official reports did not mention anything about this incident. Therefore the automatic one-match ban following two yellow cards should not be extended for this reason. We are not investigating further this matter.”

Carrick said he was disappointed by the dismissal, which left United with ten men in the closing stages, but praised the impact Cunha had made before his exit. “Matheus can do them things, he’s got them moments,” the United manager said. “We put him inside, we swapped him with Bryan [Mbeumo] at half-time to try and get him in the middle of the pitch, try and give us a little bit of different shape, and he found himself in good positions. Disappointed with how it finished, but again just shows how much he cares.”

The result ended a ten-game winless run for United and lifted them to six points from four Champions League matches, strengthening their prospects of reaching the knockout stage for the first time since 2022. Carrick was measured in his response to the win, noting that Youri Tielemans impressed after coming on as a substitute following Carlos Baleba’s withdrawal.

“It’s one game, so it depends on what happens next,” Carrick said. “We’ve got to capitalise on that. The boys just went with the flow, and you could feel how positive it was.”