Bruno Fernandes AVOIDS punishment from the FA for pushing the assistant referee during Manchester United's 7-0 defeat by Liverpool, with the incident having been spotted at the time

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Bruno Fernandes has escaped punishment for pushing a linesman during Manchester United’s 7-0 battering by Liverpool.

The United captain nudged the official close to the touchline during the second half at Anfield on Sunday, prompting calls for the incident to be investigated.

However, the FA have confirmed that no action will be taken against Fernandes because it was spotted by referee Andy Madley and his assistants and was not included in their report.

The FA, who recently wrote to all clubs reminding them of the responsibilities of all participants following a spate of incidents this season, will only take retrospective action if it is a clear sending-off offence and is deemed to have been missed by the match officials.

Columnists Chris Sutton and Simon Jordan compared the incident to Paolo Di Canio’s infamous push on referee Paul Alcock in 1998 that earned the Sheffield Wednesday player an 11-match ban.

Bruno Fernandes has escaped punishment from the FA for pushing the linesman on Sunday

Fernandes was involved in arguments with the referee and his assistant during the 7-0 defeat

Sutton wrote about Fernandes: ‘The Incredible Sulk racked up quite the rap sheet at Anfield. There was nothing professional about this behaviour. It was more befitting a petulant child, and the push on the assistant should result in a ban, no ifs and buts.

‘Paolo Di Canio got 11 games in 1998, remember, and I wouldn’t disagree if Fernandes received the same punishment. This was shameful, embarrassing, disgraceful, whatever word you can conjure up.’

Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan weighed in by saying: ‘It is not the same scenario as Paolo Di Canio got himself involved with, it is a degree of it.

‘I think you’ve got two arguments in this. One, that maybe the referee got the temperature of the game and adjusted it to the players. We often say referees don’t understand players, so there’s an argument for that.

Fernandes has avoided punishment after referee Andy Madley spotted the incident at the time

The Portuguese midfielder's behaviour during the heavy defeat has been criticised

‘The other argument is there is a brief to respect officialdom, there is a brief to respect the authority of the game.

‘There’s an example that needs to be set at the top of the game right through to the grassroots where we are seeing people where body cams to stop people getting clumped on a Sunday afternoon.

‘With that in mind, the captain of arguably the biggest club in English football, not in achievement terms but in terms of reputation and repute, should not go unpunished for this.

“It shouldn’t have gone unpunished at the time and with the benefit of retrospective outcomes we have in this country, he should be consequences because it is not right. You do not raise your hands, in any shape or form, to an official.’