Harry Maguire has been hit with an additional FA charge for improper conduct after being sent off during last month's clash with Bournemouth. The Manchester United defender was sent off for a last-man challenge, and is alleged to have 'acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive language' towards the fourth official.
As Maguire was sent off for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, the Englishman will serve a one-match suspension for his red card. However, the FA could worsen the punishment if they see fit following the latest charge.
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A statement read: "Harry Maguire has been charged after being sent off in the 78th minute of Manchester United FC's Premier League match against AFC Bournemouth on Friday 20 March. It's alleged that the defender acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards the fourth official following his dismissal. Harry Maguire has until Thursday 2 April to provide a response."
There is precedent for this, as Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk was hit with an additional one-match suspension for verbally abusing match officials during a match against Newcastle in 2023. Van Dijk served a ban for the red card, but was forced to sit out another game for his comments directed at the officials.
It remains to be seen whether Maguire suffers a similar fate, but it's unlikely to satisfy Michael Carrick, who was already left fuming with the decision. Carrick cited an incident earlier in the game when Amad appeared to be fouled by a Bournemouth player, which went unpunished by the referee.
Speaking post-match, he said: "He's definitely got one of them wrong because he's given one penalty for us for the same thing that he's not given one. There's a two-arm grab. The Matheus one he gives, the second one on Amad he doesn't, which I think is almost identical, really. If you have two hands on someone in the box and they go over and they're in control of the ball, for me it's two penalties.
"It will be interesting to see which one they acknowledge is wrong: the one we got or the one we didn't get. It's a huge moment. They don't give it, they go down the other end and score and then it becomes all of a sudden, 'oh, it needs to be a bigger penalty to overturn,' just because they scored, when actually it's a penalty and it should be a penalty if you've already given one.
"It's baffling really to make sense of that. And because they score, the game flips a little bit and changes. We defended with the 10 men after all that very well. But the penalty one is just astonishing, I have to say. One of them must be wrong."