Manchester United's Casemiro accused of faking injury to avoid FA Cup final

Nordin Amrabat, brother of Manchester United midfielder Sofyan Ambrabat has claimed that Casemiro was not injured for the FA Cup final last month but chose to sit out after realising he wasn't given a place in the starting XI by manager Erik ten Hag.

Although United managed to pull off a surprise victory over Manchester City in the match, Casemiro remained missing with Ten Hag claiming the Brazilian was not 100 per cent fit for the match.

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"Casemiro was not injured in the FA Cup Final. He found out that he wouldn't start, so he thought to himself, okay I will sit in the stands then. He was fit to play," Nordin toldZ Select.

Casemiro, who had been playing in a makeshift backline in the absence of key defenders had put some horrid performances in the lead-up to the final. It was perhaps the reason why Ten Hag preferred to go with Sofyan instead of him while Raphale Varane and Lisandro Martinez formed the centre-back pairing.

However, after the controversy snowballed, Nordin took to social media and said he had no 'ill intention' of making such a 'speculative' statement and that it was wrong on his part.

"Today during an interview on television it was suggested that my brother only played in the cup final due to an injury to another player. My response to this was pure speculation and my only motivation was to defend my brother who was on the field due to his own merit and hard work," wrote Nordin.

"My words have been taken out of context, there was no ill intention whatsoever and to suggest another player chose not to play is wrong. I don’t know what happened on the day, so let’s move on from this non story." he added.

Wayne Rooney makes similar accusations

Notably, former United Captain, Wayne Rooney also claimed he was '100 per cent sure' that some players were declaring themselves unfit when they weren't so that Ten Hag had to "takeall the stick.

"As we look at the injuriesthey'vepicked up, some of those players canplay,100 percent," said Rooney after Arsenal beat United 1-0 at Old Trafford.

"When you have the European Championship coming up and an FA Cup final,it'seasy for players to stay out of it a little bit, get back for the final and make surethey'reready for the European Championship.I'veseen it myself over the years," added Rooney.

"Theplayers who are injuredare not filling themselves in any credit at the minute. The manager is going to take all the stick for that."

Later, Ten Hag retaliated saying all of his injured players were 'desperate' to be involved in training.

"Players are desperate to play, theywant to be in the right shape. You see also Victor Lindelöf and Raphaël Varane, they are training to make themselves available for the [FA Cup] final. They do what they can do.”

While Ten Hag has bought himself some time after FA Cup heroics, the same cannot be said about Casemiro whose contract runs till 2026 with the club. There are murmurs that Casemiro could be binned to Saudi Arabia as his Premier League form has taken a massive dip.

(With inputs from agencies)