Erik ten Hag hit out at Marcus Rashford’s red card and blamed refereeing decisions for Manchester United‘s painful defeat in Denmark on Wednesday night.

United were two goals ahead against Copenhagen when Rashford was sent off before half-time for a challenge spotted by VAR, and went on to lose 4-3 at Parken Stadium.

Ten Hag was unhappy with several decisions that have left United bottom of Champions League Group A and their hopes of reaching the knockout stages hanging by a thread.

‘The red card changes everything,’ said the United manager. ‘I think when you freeze frame it, it always looks so much worse and as I say it takes them so long and they make a red card of it.

‘Come on. The first 25 minutes we dictated, dominated the game, went 2-0 up and then the red card changes everything. We are down to 10 and we are very disappointed.

Erik ten Hag has slammed the refereeing decisions that went against his side in their 4-3 defeat by Copenhagen

Marcus Rashford was sent off after standing on the ankle of a Copenhagen attacker

The red card was shown after a VAR intervention, but Ten Hag did not agree with the call

‘We conceded two goals before half-time which should never count. The first is offside, a player is in front of Andre Onana.

‘The second is a penalty that’s very harsh. The ball on the hand, but it’s so close and the hand is in such a normal position. He (Harry Maguire) went for the ball and the ref needs such a long time. That is in four games, four penalties against us, and I say three are very debatable.

‘I’m very disappointed about such decisions. The game is never meant to be like this. This has nothing to do with football.

‘Decisions have to be made and I accept also wrong decisions are made by some at this level. Three such tough decisions (against FC Copenhagen). You control the game and the game is never meant to be for that.’

Even so, Ten Hag was pleased with the character shown by his players in the face of adversity.

‘This squad is resilient and the whole season so many decisions are against us, so many setbacks for injuries,’ he added. ‘I said to the lads it will turn, one moment in the season it will turn in our favour.’

Copenhagen’s comeback spoiled Rasmus Hojlund’s homecoming after the Dane scored twice in the first half against his old club.

‘We started very well,’ said Hojlund. ‘We controlled the game until the red card and that changed the game. If you don’t look at the result, we did quite well but we switched off a little bit.

‘I know how the crowd can help the team here. We did quite good at the beginning of the second half, but it’s unfortunate that we are here with zero points again.’

Ten Hag believes Copenhagen’s first goal should not have stood as an attacker was obscuring Andre Onan’s view while standing in an offside position

He also feels Harry Maguire should not have been penalised for a handball in the penalty area

Maguire was stunned by the decision, but it stood, and Copenhagen equalised from the spot before going on to win in the second half