- Manchester United defender set for three-game ban
- Has just come back from injury
- Could miss clashes with Chelsea and Liverpool
Manchester United are weighing up an appeal against Lisandro Martinez’s red card, after the Argentine endured the indignity of a brief cameo ending in dismissal during the 2-1 defeat to Leeds United.
Making his return after five matches out, Martinez lasted only moments before receiving his marching orders for violent conduct. The offence itself bordered on the absurd—tugging at Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair with minimal force.
Calvert-Lewin delayed his reaction, eventually going to ground seconds later, prompting Paul Tierney to consult the monitor. The irony did not go unnoticed: a bald referee sending off a player for pulling the hair of a man with a ponytail.
Martinez Appeal Considered
According to Steven Railston of Manchester Evening News, “United are considering appealing the decision to send Martinez off. The defender is facing a three-match suspension for violent conduct.”
This would rule Martinez out of key clashes against Chelsea and Liverpool, with Brentford in between. Of the six remaining games, these three carry the most weight. Liverpool sit fifth, Chelsea sixth, and Brentford seventh—all in the hunt for Europe, all likely to view these fixtures as defining.
If the worst were to unfold and United were to lose all three, the picture would shift quickly. Liverpool and Chelsea could both move above them, while Everton would also have a route to close the gap, dragging United down towards eighth.
That is why the defeat to Leeds United stings. A win would have built real separation—a 10-point cushion over Chelsea, three over Aston Villa, and six over Liverpool.
Instead, the margin narrows, and the pressure sharpens. The equation, though, remains straightforward. Manchester United need 12 points to secure Champions League football—potentially fewer if they take points directly from Chelsea and Brentford.
Everything now funnels into these next three fixtures, and without Martinez, Carrick’s side will feel the difference.
No Consistency
By the letter of the law, Martinez’s “violent conduct” falls within the threshold for a red card.
Hair-pulling is not explicitly outlined in the Laws of the Game, but it sits under violent conduct because it carries no genuine attempt to play the ball.
Even so, something has to give. Consistency—more than anything—remains the issue.
I tend to offer referees more leeway than most. The job demands constant, split-second judgment, and more often than not, they get those calls right. Mistakes happen—it is part of the role.
What is far harder to accept, however, is the earlier moment involving Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Leny Yoro.
Just seconds before Noah Okafor opened the scoring, Calvert-Lewin led with an elbow into Yoro’s head—an incident that went unchecked. If Martinez’s action meets the bar for a red, then that challenge demands the same scrutiny.
In truth, neither incident should result in a dismissal. Both are fouls, nothing more.
But to reduce a side to ten men for a light tug—what looked more like contact with a hairband—while ignoring a far more dangerous action altogether, exposes a glaring imbalance in officiating.
