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.
