Ilkay Gündogan believes Bruno Fernandes went down far too easily to win the free-kick that led to Manchester United’s opening goal in Sunday’s derby, the Germany midfielder saying he did not touch the Portuguese.

The incident happened 30 minutes into the match at Old Trafford, which United won 2-0, when Fernandes went down as Gündogan challenged him. Mike Dean, the referee, awarded a foul and Fernandes subsequently chipped the ball to Anthony Martial, who volleyed home.

Manchester United turning a corner with Bruno Fernandes at the wheel Read more

Gündogan said: “There was frustration about the free-kick before the goal – it was not at all a foul. I just touched the ball and he [Fernandes] goes on the floor, shouting. I don’t even know if the referee saw it or just had a feeling that it was a foul.

“That was very disappointing for me, to be honest, because I was involved in the action and conceding the goal straight afterwards hurt very much. We tried hard after conceding the first one but it just wasn’t enough.”

Ederson allowed Martial’s volley to squirm in and City’s goalkeeper later compounded the error by throwing the ball into space for Scott McTominay to run on to for the midfielder’s 40-yard injury-time second for United.

Gündogan said: “He’s angry, disappointed and frustrated, but it’s always about how you [react]. He has all of our support and I’m sure he will do much better in the next games.”

The City full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, though, felt that the team have to take responsibility for Martial’s goal. “Everyone was complaining about that free-kick, but it can happen to everyone. The referee is the boss on the pitch and will decide – so if he decides it’s a free-kick we have to accept it, and we have to pay attention on set-pieces. We cannot concede this type of goal because we have been working hard on that. We have to pay more attention.”

Football Weekly Manchester derby, José slams Ndombele and Serie A latest Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/03/09-45672-gnl.fw.20200309.sj.fw0309.mp3 00:00:00 01:05:27

Luke Shaw, meanwhile, has said that Fernandes’s willingness to gamble will drive United on to great heights. The January arrival was again one of their best performers and Shaw said: “At times we know he’s going to lose possession, but we need those sort of risky passes that are going to unlock defences. He’s been a brilliant signing so far and he’s already come in with a few assists and a few important goals. Long may that continue. We will keep pushing the standards and we’ll keep pushing him because there’s so much more from him to come.”

Shaw also said he was initially confused when McTominay attempted his long-range shot in the final minute of added time. “In my head I was like: ‘Why is he shooting? Run it in the corner,’” he said. “It topped off such an amazing game and a result I think we deserved.”

United are in fifth place, three points from fourth position, with nine matches remaining. They are unbeaten in 10 matches in all competitions, while also still competing in the Europa League and FA Cup. “This win was so important,” said Shaw. “Not just the points but the magnitude of the game and how big it is to everyone in this city. Maybe we wanted it more – I felt like we wanted it more. I am very proud of the team and we need to keep focused now, because we’ve got a very big game on Thursday [at Linz in the Europa League]. We can’t stop here, we can’t be happy with just this. We need to keep going and push on.”

United have announced that they will freeze season-ticket prices next season, for the ninth consecutive year.

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.