Alan Shearer defends Casemiro and reveals new evidence that clears the Manchester United star.

Alan Shearer has defended Casemiro following his red card against Crystal Palace, believing that a different camera angle not used by the VAR exonerates the Manchester United midfielder.

The Red Devils defeated the south London club 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday, but they had to dig in for the final 20 minutes after Casemiro was sent off.

Jeffrey Schlupp’s rough challenge on Antony sparked a melee between both sets of players, and Casemiro was singled out by the VAR for grabbing Will Hughes around the neck.

After the game, manager Erik ten Hag admitted that his experienced midfielder had crossed a line, but he felt Jordan Ayew should have also been sent off and claimed Casemiro was simply trying to prevent Hughes from getting involved in the brawl.

Shearer also believes Casemiro’s dismissal was excessively harsh and produced an alternate camera angle showing no malice in Casemiro’s face and him grabbing Hughes by the shirt rather than the neck.

‘There’s a scuffle in the corner, you can see everyone gathering, there’s pushing and shoving and grabbing and everything else,’ Shearer said on Match of the Day.

‘And then the referee is sent to the screen as a result of that, but the angle that he’s shown – he’s shown a still, and then he’s shown it in slow motion – in that position [from behind Casemiro] from that angle.

However, from another angle, it does not appear to be nearly as bad.

‘And this angle here [from behind Hughes] you can see it close up, he’s got a hold of him, yes, but by the shirt rather than the neck.

‘There’s a lot more going on, such as Ayew on Fred and so on. You can see slaps, pushing, grabbing, and everything else.’

Fellow pundit Ian Wright agreed that the decision was unjust to Casmeiro, saying of the brawl: ‘I would have loved it!’ I would have dealt with someone I don’t particularly like! But, in reality, it’s just handbags, so get rid of them and move on. ‘Extremely harsh.’

While Ten Hag thought the still image of Casemiro shown to referee Andre Marriner was damning, he was quick to point out that the Brazilian was on the verge of a brawl and was attempting to keep Hughes at bay.

‘Casemiro is protecting our player and the player [Hughes] by holding him back. Many more players should have been sent off if Casemiro had been sent off,’ he said.