Cristian Romero sent off for Tottenham against Man Utd just days after criticising club hierarchy

Despite that, Romero was included in Thomas Frank's starting XI for Saturday's blockbuster showdown at Old Trafford.

However, the centre-back was dismissed around 30 minutes into the match for a bruising tackle on Casemiro - with referee Michael Oliver giving the player a straight red card.

Romero went in all guns blazing and followed through, leaving Oliver with no choice but to dismiss him.

Fans on social media were relentless in their criticism of the 27-year-old. One X user wrote: "Cristian Romero wants to get out and play as few matches as possible."

A second opined: "Cristian Romero does a lot of incredibly stupid stuff on the pitch for someone so, so loud off it."

RED CARD FOR SPURS CAPTAIN CRISTIAN ROMERO! 🟥@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/TjHJete992

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 7, 2026

"What on earth was he thinking? Vile," said another fan.

A fourth wrote: What Romero did to his team, need to be discussed by the club. That was silly, that was stupid."

And a fifth said: "Romero of Tottenham needs help. This is not normal. Why let your team suffer for this long out of your carelessness and pride."

Earlier in the week, Romero had sparked anger by saying it was 'disgraceful' that Tottenham had been sold so short by their higher-ups by having a thin squad for their 2-2 draw with Manchester City.

“Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were all incredible,” he wrote on social media.

“I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially as we had only 11 players available – unbelievable but true and disgraceful.”

Tottenham boss Frank, speaking prior to today's match, attempted to play down Romero's comments.

“If you want to know what he meant, you of course need to ask him. That is the right way to take that question," he said.

“Cuti (Romero) is a very passionate character and player. He wants to leave everything on the pitch and he is very ambitious and wants to win every time.

“Sometimes when you are like that, sometimes there can be an outburst, which happened this time. It is something we have dealt with and dealt with internally.”

Romero had previously criticised Tottenham on social media after a 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth on January 7.

Frank added: “There is a lot of ways of doing things. Cuti has been very good for us this season and past seasons.

“I wouldn’t have done it. That’s my message.

“I think the beauty of written text is that you can read a lot into it and nobody really knows what was the purpose of it except Cuti or the guys who have spoken to him.

“It shows that Cuti is extremely passionate, he wants to win, he wants to do everything he can together with his team-mates to achieve great things, but you need to ask him next time you speak to him.”