Maxence Lacroix was shown a red card and conceded a penalty for pulling back Matheus Cunha in Manchester United’s win over Crystal Palace. But was it the right call – and how valid are comparisons to the Mohamed Salah-Marc Guehi incident?
It was a game-changing decision on Sunday. Manchester United were 1-0 down but Bruno Fernandes scored the resulting spot-kick and, with a numerical advantage, they went on to beat the 10 men of Palace 2-1 and go third in the Premier League.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner labelled it “the Old Trafford bonus”. In his view, the incident should have seen Manchester United awarded a free-kick and Lacroix a yellow card.
“It’s a very harsh red card,” he told Sky Sports afterwards. “It’s usually where the first contact is that where the foul is, and it definitely starts outside the box.”
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Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner felt the red card for defender Lacroix was ‘very harsh’ as the Eagles lost 2-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford
The rules do state, though, that if a foul through holding continues into the box a penalty should be awarded.
Contact between the two did persist until the line of the penalty area, which counts as inside – although it can be argued Lacroix was no longer forcefully holding onto Cunha by that point.
Whether it should be a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity brings in the Salah-Guehi comparison.
On Ref Watch, former Premier League striker Jay Bothroyd argued it wasn’t a clear goal-scoring opportunity so shouldn’t have been a red card for Lacroix. He believed goalkeeper Dean Henderson would have dashed out to stop Cunha from scoring.
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Ref Watch takes a closer look on Lacroix’s red card at Manchester United and compares it to the similar challenge made by Guehi on Mohamed Salah – even Arne Slot has his say!
Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Arne Slot was talking up the similarities with Guehi receiving a yellow card for a similar challenge on Salah in the Reds’ defeat at home to Manchester City last month.
That foul was definitely outside the box – but the presence of covering defender Ruben Dias prevented Guehi from receiving a red card as he hadn’t denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
Slot pointed out that Dias was further away than Palace’s covering centre-back Jaydee Canvot at Old Trafford.
We got the measuring tape out and can say Slot is correct. Dias was seven metres away from Salah when the Liverpool man was played through. Cavot, meanwhile, was six meters away from Cunha in the similar scenario.
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Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd discuss why Guehi not being sent off was the correct decision for his foul on Salah
Slot’s conclusion is that the officials have made a mistake – either by not sending off Guehi or by showing a red to Lacroix.
“For me, [Lacroix’s foul] was a red card. The one from Guehi was a red card as well, but I wasn’t backed up by everyone.
“The panel afterwards said [the Guehi call] was the right decision, so we expect the panel now to say ‘wrong decision made by VAR and a referee’ [for Lacroix’s red].”
However, there are other factors to play. First of all, the distance between the attacker and the ball.
For example, Salah was three metres away from the ball when he was fouled in the incident at Anfield. Cunha, meanwhile, was two metres away. So it could be argued Cunha had more control of the ball.
Both Palace and Liverpool can feel hard done by to an extent. Liverpool will feel wronged that Manchester City did not get a red card in a crucial game. Palace will feel a red card was given to them when it went begging at Anfield.
What this does do is question the consistency of refereeing – and not for the first time in the Premier League.
