In Manchester United’s win over Crystal Palace, Maxence Lacroix was shown a red card and given a penalty for pulling back Matheus Cunha. But was it the right decision, and how valid are the comparisons to the Mohamed Salah and Marc Gehi cases?
It was a decision that changed Sunday’s game. Manchester United were losing 1-0, but Bruno Fernandes converted the resulting spot-kick and they used their superior numbers to beat Palace’s 10-men 2-1 and take third place in the Premier League.
Palace manager Oliver Glasner dubbed it the ‘Old Trafford bonus’. In his view, the incident should have given Manchester United a free-kick and Lacroix a yellow card.
“This is a very tough red card,” he told Sky Sports after the match. “Usually that’s where the first contact takes place, and the foul definitely starts outside the box.”
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Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glassner said he felt the red card for defender Lacroix was “very harsh” as the Eagles lost 2-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
However, the rules state that if a holding foul continues into the box, a penalty should be awarded.
The contact between the two continued all the way to the penalty area line (which is considered to be inside the penalty area), but it can also be argued that at that point Lacroix was no longer holding onto Cunha forcefully.
The question of whether a red card should be issued for denying a scoring opportunity leads to a comparison between Salah and Gehi.
Former Premier League striker Jay Bothroyd argued on Ref Watch that Lacroix should not have been given a red card as it was not a clear scoring chance. He believed goaltender Dean Henderson would pop out to stop Cunha from scoring.
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Ref Watch takes a closer look at Lacroix’s red card at Manchester United and compares it to Gehi’s similar challenge on Mohamed Salah. Arne Slott also weighs in.
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Arne Slott highlighted the similarities between Guehi and Guehi, who received a yellow card for a similar challenge on Salah during the Reds’ home defeat to Manchester City last month.
Although the foul was definitely outside the box, Guehi was not given a red card, as the presence of covering defender Rubén Díaz did not deny him a clear scoring chance.
Slott pointed out that Dias was further out than Palace’s cover centre-back Jaydee Cambot at Old Trafford.
I pulled out my tape measure and I can tell you the slot is correct. Dias was seven meters away from Salah when the Liverpool man was played through. Meanwhile, Cabot was 6 meters away from Cunha in a similar scenario.
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Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd discuss why Gehi was the right decision not to be sent off for his foul on Salah
Slott’s conclusion is that officials made a mistake either by not ejecting Guehi or by showing Lacroix a red.
“For me,[the foul on Lacroix]was a red card, the foul on Guehi was also a red card, but not everyone supported me.
“Afterwards, the commission said it was the right call (for Guehi), so we expect the commission to say in the future that the wrong decision was made by VAR and the referee (about Lacroix’s red).”
However, there are other factors to consider. First, the distance between the attacker and the ball.
For example, in the incident at Anfield, Salah was three meters away from the ball when he was fouled. Cunha, on the other hand, was two meters away. Therefore, it can be said that Cunha had better control of the ball.
Both Palace and Liverpool may feel to some degree that they have done too much. Liverpool will feel unfair that Manchester City did not receive a red card in an important match. Palace will feel they were given a red card in the game at Anfield.
This raises questions about refereeing consistency, but it is not the first time this has happened in the Premier League.
