Neville names Man Utd star who ‘played’ the referee as Ten Hag claims gap to Man City is ‘very small’

Gary Neville insists Man Utd goalkeeper Andre Onana conned referee Andrew Madley during Sunday’s Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium.

Phil Foden cancelled out Marcus Rashford’s stunning opener with a thunderbolt of his own 11 minutes after the break.

The England international then added another in the 80th minute before Erling Haaland wrapped up the points and bragging rights in stoppage time.

Onana appeared to go down with cramp in the 65th minute, with the scoreline level at 1-1, with the Cameroon international seen rubbing his hamstring area.

Madley stopped the game so that the Man Utd goalkeeper could receive treatment and during that time his Red Devils team-mates ran over to the technical area to get tactical instructions.

Neville said during commentary: “Onana has now gone down with cramp.

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“Have we seen that before? Can a goalkeeper get cramp? I think the referee might be being played. The goalkeeper can’t go off like an outfield player.”

Man Utd had just three shots in the whole match with Man City dominating the ball and chances – but Erik ten Hag refused to admit the huge gap between the arch-rivals.

When asked if the game served as a reminder of the gap between Man Utd and City, Ten Hag replied: “No I don’t think so, absolutely not.

“We have many problems now in injuries and still we had an opportunity. A very small margin.

“We could have scored the second goal. We could have scored the second goal in a debatable moment and in the second debatable moment.

“You see it is not that big. When we have everyone on board we can be really competitive and also we showed for instance in the [FA Cup] final against them when it can be really close.

“But don’t forget this, City is, at the moment the best team in the world.”

Man Utd boss Ten Hag is still convinced that his side can finish in the top four despite being 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with just 11 matches remaining.

Ten Hag added: “It can be a quick turnaround. We go to another final [against Everton next Saturday] and try to get closer. We have to go for it. We have to win our games. Fifth position can also be a position for Champions League so we have to fight for it.”

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