Erik ten Hag hinted that Manchester United used the “unfairness” of Ethan Pinnock’s goal as motivation for their comeback against Brentford.

Pinnock headed Brentford into the lead from a corner during the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time, after Matthijs de Ligt was forced to leave the pitch to treat his head injury.

De Ligt had already left the field twice to receive treatment for his head injury from United’s medical staff, but blood was still visible when he returned for Brentford’s corner.

Both Ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy were shown yellow cards for protesting, with Ten Hag maintaining that referee Sam Barrott made the wrong call in sending De Ligt to the touchline, as the blood on his head had dried.

Ten Hag explained, “It was just dry blood, so the injury had already been treated. No one from our side understood why he was sent off.

“I spoke to Matthijs, and he said, ‘it’s only dry blood, I don’t know why I have to come off.’ It was a crucial moment because Brentford are very strong on corners, and when you miss a header, they can capitalize. Naturally, we were disappointed.

“It’s hypothetical now, but we’ll never know if it sparked United’s comeback. What’s clear is that we were frustrated and angry at half-time. We felt we had controlled the game, created some chances, and hadn’t allowed any, so conceding in that way felt unjust.

“De Ligt was fine; that’s what he told me. I asked him if there was a problem when he came off, and he assured me he was 100% okay. There was never a reason to take him off.”

Alejandro Garnacho equalized within two minutes of the restart, and Rasmus Hojlund scored the winning goal in the 62nd minute, pushing United up to tenth place in the Premier League table.

United have now won as many league games as they’ve lost, having gone 317 minutes without scoring in the league. Ten Hag still insists that finishing has been their only issue this season.