FIFA has officially SACKED the referees and officials involved in the controversial Manchester United vs Leeds clash!
Michael Carrick described the red card given to Lisandro Martinez as one of the poorest refereeing calls he’d witnessed, a view Jamie Carragher of Sky Sports shared some sympathy with.
Martinez was dismissed after VAR flagged a brief hair pull on Dominic Calvert-Lewin during Man Utd’s 2-1 home loss to Leeds. Referee Paul Tierney reviewed the incident on the pitchside monitor before showing the red card, leaving Martinez facing a three-game suspension.
The Argentine defender appeared confused as he walked off, having been in a tussle with Calvert-Lewin at the time. Carrick was frustrated that such a fleeting moment — one he considered accidental — had resulted in such a severe punishment.
“It’s not a pull, it’s not a tug, it’s not aggressive, he touches it and gets sent off. Worst of all is he was sent to overturn it as a clear and obvious error. It’s shocking,” he told Sky Sports.
“He’s off-balance because of that, he half touches the back of his hair which pulls the bobble out and leads it to look like – I don’t even know what it looks like.
“That’s two games in a row we’ve had those decisions go against us, but that one was one of the worst I’ve seen.”
Man Utd found themselves deservedly 2-0 down at half-time through a Noah Okafor double, but Carrick was further irritated by the decision to allow the man of the match’s early opener to stand after Calvert-Lewin had caught defender Leny Yoro in the face with an arm in the build-up.
