Lacroix hauled Matheus Cunha down and referee Chris Kavanagh awarded the penalty. Following a VAR check, Lacroix received his marching orders. Kavanagh declared: “After review, Crystal Palace number five commits a clear holding offence which denies a clear, obvious, goalscoring opportunity. Final decision is penalty and red card.”

Glasner expressed his displeasure with the penalty award in his post-match press conference – accusing Cunha of being clever with how and where he went down. “The red card changed the game completely,” he stated. “I think it’s a very hard decision. The foul starts outside the box. Matheus Cunha is very smart to wait until he is inside the box and fall down.”

Pressed further on the verdict, Glasner added: “We spoke to the fourth official, they had to check was it offside, where does the foul start and is it a red card. There are a few different situations to judge.

“But it still feels it’s the wrong decision. It’s not a penalty, maybe a red card for a foul outside the box, but the foul starts outside the box. It’s maybe a little bit the Old Trafford bounce.”

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

Palace defender Chris Richards praised Cunha as ‘smart’ in an interview with Sky Sports. “When you start off with a big 1-0 lead early on, you want to ride the momentum. After the red card, they rode their momentum. Overall, disappointed but proud of the performance we put in today,” he stated.

“When you’re playing away at a place like Old Trafford, more than likely the home team is going to get a call like that but that is the nature of the game. Matheus Cunha is a smart player.

“He knows how to play and if you feel a tug in the box, you’re going to go down so credit to him for that. It hurt us a bit, of course, going a man down but you can’t take anything away from our performance today. Regardless of how many people we have on the pitch, we still put in a good performance.”