Lisandro Martinez received his marching orders during the second half of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Leeds United.
Paul Tierney shows Lisandro Martinez a red card for hair pulling after a short VAR check (Image: (Michael Regan/Getty Images))
Gary Neville believes Lisandro Martinez knew what he was doing after being sent off in the Premier League match between Manchester United and Leeds United. The centre-back was given his marching orders for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair.
The incident happened in the second half, with Daniel Farke’s side already leading 2-0 thanks to two goals from Noah Okafor in the 45th minute. Although the pull was not detected in real time, it quickly became clear that a VAR check had been carried out.
And after the match was stopped, referee Paul Tierney was sent to the pitchside monitor to review the incident, before handing Martinez a straight red card. The Argentine player will be suspended for the next three games.
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In commentary at the time, Neville said: “You can’t just pull a hair and get away with it…”, before adding: “Martinez looks embarrassed and confused. But these days, pulling hair gets you a red card. He knew what he was doing.”
Meanwhile, the Premier League’s Match Center confirmed, “Following a VAR review, the referee issued a red card to Martinez for violent behavior.” Referee Tierney then announced to the crowd: “Following a review, Manchester United No. 6 was found to be guilty of violent behavior by pulling his hair.The final decision is a red card.”
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Lisandro Martinez sent off for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair
It was the second consecutive Premier League game in which United had a player sent off, with Martinez joining Michael Keane in the mix for pulling his hair. The Everton centre-back received his marching orders during the second half of a 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers in January.
The appeal lodged with the FA challenged both Keane’s decision to sack him and the severity of the punishment for what was deemed to be violent behavior. However, the appeal was rejected by a three-member committee that included former players.
Everton manager David Moyes said after his appeal was rejected: “I’m very disappointed, I’m very surprised. I’m probably even more angry at the committee for thinking that way.” “I have to question the three of them. I know who the three of them are and I’m really surprised they didn’t subvert it in some way.
Everton defender Michael Keane received a similar punishment earlier in the season.
“As for violent behavior…I watched last night’s game (Arsenal vs. Liverpool), and it’s perfectly normal to throw a ball at someone and pick it up if you get seriously injured, but to accidentally pull someone’s hair a little bit and that means a three-game ban is extremely unusual to me.
“Three games? That shouldn’t even be a game. But it’s more embarrassing to have been in VAR. This was a young referee who was only playing his third or fourth game, and VAR gave him a bad call. VAR didn’t need to be involved in it at all, they were looking for the smallest things and things that probably no one would have cared about otherwise.”
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