Bruno Fernandes speaks after Tottenham red card

The skipper wanted to highlight the efforts of his team-mates, who played the whole of the second half with a player less than Spurs but still put the visitors under a spell of pressure.

Fernandes was shown the red card by referee Chris Kavanagh late in the first half. But while Spurs got a second goal quickly after the restart, the Reds on the pitch rallied, had a couple of penalty appeals and also went close to pulling one back through Casemiro.

"Obviously, I left my team-mates one man down. I do appreciate everything they did on the pitch was tougher for them," Bruno said in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

"We didn't start the game well when it was 11 v 11, and the result is on [Tottenham's] side and we get the situation with the red card. [My team-mates] did well, they tried, we did concede another two goals. It was difficult to cover all the spaces. I think it's many good things we can take away from this. The resilience of the team was always there and I'm very proud of the team.

"Obviously, no-one likes to be sent off. It's not a good feeling seeing my team-mates running a lot, trying a lot and trying to score, because that's what they tried to do to get a result on our side. We end up conceding another two goals but they did try everything."

Fernandes disagreed with the referee's decision to produce a red card in response to the challenge on James Maddison. He lost his footing beforehand but still tried to win the ball, making contact with the Spurs midfielder's leg.

"I don't take him as everyone wants to see it, going with the studs. I take him with my ankle. It's a clear foul, but never a red card, that's my feeling," our No.8 explained, giving his honest assessment of the situation.

"Even Maddison when he gets up…he just said like: 'It is a foul but never a red card'. In the eyes of everyone, you can see this is never a red card. Because if this is a red card, we have to look at many other incidents.

"I've had many incidents when I get kicked and I’ve never seen something so quick coming up as a red card. I just think it's never a red card. It's a foul. Even the contact is not that strong. If [the referee] wants to give me a yellow because it's a counter-attack, I agree. And then I don't understand why the VAR didn't call the referee to the screen. For me, it's just not a really good decision."