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Shortly before the end of Wednesday’s Champions League match between FC Copenhagen and Manchester United, Marcus Rashford was sent off.
Television images showed the United star hitting Elias Gellert in the calf when he tried to protect the ball.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) took a closer look at the situation and referee Donatas Ramsas himself headed to the video screen to see the situation again.
There, slow-motion images and still images of the accident were presented. The result was a direct red card for Rashford.
The decision caused a reaction from many people. Jamie Carragher is among those writing about the situation on X/Twitter:
– It doesn’t matter that there is a red card. I hate these replays and slow motion shots that make everything look ten times worse.
VIaplay expert Kasper Wikistad has the same opinion as Carragher.
– Isn’t that red? He just looks at the ball, tries to protect the ball, gets his foot on the ball. Couldn’t it fall under the category of “serious violation of the rules of the game/endangering your opponent”? Wikistad writes.
– Red card generated by VAR technology
Sports journalist Peter Rutzler thinks it all sounds a lot worse than it actually is.
– It is a red card generated by VAR for Rashford. Replaying makes everything seem much worse than it is at normal speed. The referee does not look at the player at all. Rashford is not aggressive, he uses his body to protect the ball, he writes.
– He is strict, but with slow movement there is no chance of letting him stay in the field, Rutzler further writes.
Former Eliteserien striker Bernt Holsker is also throwing himself into the sacking debate.
-Ridiculous red card. Trying to protect the ball from Rashford. Holsker writes that the referees’ lack of understanding of the game is unfortunate.
TV 2 expert Jesper Matthiessen, for his part, believes that the decision was correct by the judge.
When we see this, there is no doubt that it exposes the opponent to danger. When the referee can see this in slow motion and still images, it simply looks very ugly. I think it feels right,” he says in the studio.
His colleague Morten Langley supports him in broadcasting the break.
He’s clumsy, reckless and unlucky, but he comes close to breaking an opponent’s ankle, says Langley.
FCK responded
Manchester United started the match brilliantly and took a two-goal lead after goals from Dane Rasmus Hoglund.
But after the expulsion, the landowners resisted. First, Muhammad Al-Younoussi guaranteed the reduction.
Just minutes later, the Danes were awarded a penalty kick. Diogo Gonçalves turned it into the net and so the two teams were level in the first half.
You can follow the match progress below:
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