Pogba was a straight red and Ronaldo was lucky
Paul Pogba’s tackle on Naby Keita was reckless, dangerous and entirely deserving of a red card. He was off his feet, out of control and endangered the safety of his opponent.
It was undeniably a red card – most observers on television would have come to that conclusion straight away, but referee Anthony Taylor, who had a very strong game, had only one view and decided to issue a yellow, believing that the challenge was simply reckless, and nothing more.
Fortunately the video assistant referee recognised that a clear and obvious error was made by the referee and correctly intervened, telling him to look at the pitchside monitor and understand he may have made a mistake.
This is precisely what the system was introduced for – to spot a clear and obvious error, and help the referee, not humiliate him, by telling him to take a second look.
On viewing the monitor and the view those of us watching at home had, Taylor quite rightly withdrew the yellow and switched it to a red. The challenge was serious foul play and Var was operating as it should.
Footballers care and get frustrated when their teams are losing but they also have to exercise a degree of self-control. They have a duty of care towards opponents and that looked like a challenge which was malicious, plain and simple – as evidenced by the fact that Keita was taken off on a stretcher.
There were also some suggesmanager. tions Cristiano Ronaldo may have been sent off in the first half for clashing with Curtis Jones. A wild attempt at winning the ball by a waist-high air-kick from behind resulted in Jones falling to the ground.
The ball ended up trapped near the stomach of the Liverpool player. Ronaldo kicked and made contact with the ball, which was clear to see.
Ronaldo was fortunate – the red mist had clearly descended, but Taylor’s swift intervention, and that of his assistant standing close by, ensured that the Portuguese forward did not see his yellow card escalate into red.
It was undeniably reckless, but the yellow card for Ronaldo was the correct verdict.
For Pogba, however, there was no such excuse.