Manchester United charged by FA after Newcastle United incident that enraged Cristiano Ronaldo

Manchester United have been charged with failing to control their players after their players swarmed referee Craig Pawson for disallowing a Cristiano Ronaldo strike against Newcastle.

As Magpies goalkeeper Nick Pope prepared to take a free-kick following a disallowed goal from Ronaldo for offside, the Manchester United No. 7 slyly stole the ball and tapped it into the net.

Manchester United’s argument was that the goal should have stood as Newcastle defender Fabian Schar tapped the ball back to Pope to take the free-kick.

But Pawson quickly ruled the goal out as he had not completed his signal for play to restart by the time Schar, or indeed Ronaldo, touched the ball.

Following the decision, every Man United outfield player ran over to the referee to protest that the goal should have been awarded, but the decision to disallow it was final.

An FA statement read: "It is alleged that Manchester United FC failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion in the 49th minute of this match.” They have until Thursday to respond.

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag refrained from commenting on the incident in any depth, but was still able to make his feelings clear.

"I don’t have a comment, everyone has seen it,” he said. “I shared that with them [the officials]. Everyone has seen what happened today on the pitch.”

And Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe felt the decision to disallow the goal was an obvious one as commented after the match: “I could see it at the time and, for me, it was clear.

"Fabby wasn’t taking the free kick, he was allowing Nick to do it.

“I don’t think the referee had blown the whistle to restart play. Nick was waiting to deliver the free kick and Cristiano Ronaldo has taken the ball off him.

“It would have been a very very difficult goal to swallow if that had stood. For me, it’s clear the ball wasn’t in play.”