'A cow in the ass!' - Erik ten Hag's HILARIOUS response to making all five Man Utd subs including taking off Bruno Fernandes before devastating Lisandro Martinez injury

• Ten Hag baffled journalists with bizarre answer
• Dutchman was defending taking off Fernandes
• He said: "You're looking a cow in the ass"

WHAT HAPPENED? The United manager explained that he took Bruno Fernandes off when his side were leading 2-0 against the Spaniards in order to prevent the Portuguese getting sent off for a second yellow card. And he recalled a bizarre Dutch saying in response to journalists who criticised the decision.

🏆 TOP STORY: Sane tells Bayern NOT to sack Mane

📣 HAVE YOUR SAY: Ronaldo & Mou reunited - a disaster?

🚨 MUST READ: Why Bellingham should say NO to City & Madrid

WHAT THEY SAID: "Because the next Bruno was throwing a ball away, so the next he is off," Ten Hag explained. "He [the referee] saved him because Sevilla did the same in the first half and the player from Seville got booked for it. Antony, finally, he saw it out but don't come in such circumstances, everything is going our way. 2-0 up, we're playing a good game, so don't go into individual battles with your opponents, it's not necessary, you're heating up the opponent and the risk to get sent off. I don't want to take the risk.

"It's easily... so afterwards we call it where I'm coming from, you're looking a cow in the ass. Yeah, a cow in the ass. So we call it in my region from the Netherlands, that is easy. But when he got sent off you tell me, 'why don't you get him off? Why don't you go for the risk?'"

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Fernandes had been booked for handball in the first half, ruling him out of the second leg, and Ten Hag thought he and Antony, who had also been shown a yellow card, were dangerously close to earning red cards and leaving the team with 10 men. However, Ten Hag's decision to use all of his five substitutions by the 81st minute came back to bite him when Lisandro Martinez was carried off the pitch in agony and United had to play out the final stretch of the game with 10 men, leading to Sevilla equalising through a Harry Maguire own goal.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images

WHAT NEXT? United visit relegation-fighting Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday and need a win to stay ahead of Tottenham in the race for the top four.