Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal says Marouane Fellaini should not be punished for his physical tangle with Leicester City defender Robert Huth during a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
The Belgian attacker appeared to elbow Huth in the neck, and then swung at the Leicester defender after Huth had grabbed and pulled Fellaini's hair from behind.
The referee did not award a card for either transgression, but Fellaini will likely face retroactive punishment by the FA for his role - something Van Gaal says isn't fair.
"Nowadays, you cannot control it by yourself as a referee," Van Gaal told Sky Sports after the match. "It's so difficult. When you see what Huth is doing with Fellaini - that's a penalty."
Van Gaal, ever the animated figure while in front of the camera, then reached over and grabbed the reporter's hair.
"Shall I grab you by your hair, what is your reaction?" he posed to the reporter. "When I grab you, your hair is much shorter than Fellaini but when I do that, what are you doing then?
"I think that's a normal reaction," Van Gaal then added, in regards to Fellaini's elbow. "Every human being who is grabbed by the hair (reacts like that). Only with sex masochism, then it is allowed - but not in other situations, and they did it. They did it several times."
Van Gaal also pointed to Huth's role in the back-and-forth, and offered that if Fellaini was to see retroactive punishment, Huth should as well.
"You have to pick out first Huth, I think, because he was the guy who grabbed the hair of Fellaini," Van Gaal said. "I think the reaction of Fellaini is like a human being. It's always like that."