Casemiro‘s dismissal shifted the momentum. What should have been a comfortable night for United turned into a nervy second half as Chelsea eyed a second-half comeback.
The man advantage gave the visitors hope. United, who had looked untouchable for most of the first half, suddenly found themselves pegged back. Chelsea pushed forward with renewed belief and, deep into the second period, Trevoh Chalobah popped up with a goal to reduce the deficit. That strike sparked a frantic final ten minutes where every Chelsea attack had the United faithful on edge. The Red Devils eventually held on, but Casemiro’s moment of madness ensured it was far from straightforward.
Amorim was quick to protect his midfield general. Speaking to BBC Sport he revealed Casemiro was taking the incident harder than anyone.
“He’s [feeling] worse than me,” he said. “We won so I will forget a little bit and he will suffer because he’s a top professional. He understands what he did. He is experienced enough that that play should not be played like that. He cares too much.”
When pressed on whether Casemiro’s rashness was down to pressure, Amorim offered a different take.
“It’s hard to say. With Casemiro, that’s the pressure,” he said. “The guy has five Champions Leagues. I feel more pressure on some young guys sometimes. But maybe it’s because Casemiro cares – we scored one and then he has that tackle. Then they have maybe one time that they passed the half of the pitch and we want to win the ball right away. So I think sometimes it’s a little bit, not the pressure, they want it too much in that moment. That is not a bad thing.”
United can breathe a sigh of relief that the red card was for two bookable offences rather than a straight dismissal. It means Casemiro will serve just a one-match suspension and will miss next Saturday’s lunchtime clash away at Brentford. For Amorim, that’s a small mercy as he looks to steady the ship after a rocky start to the season.
