Premier League explain why Lisandro Martínez was not sent off during Man United vs Crystal Palace

Lisandro Martínez looked close to being sent off during Manchester United’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.

The Reds delivered a commanding performance away at Crystal Palace, arguably their best of the season so far.

Despite dominating the match and creating numerous chances, Erik ten Hag’s side were unable to capitalise and had to settle for a single point.

This leaves United with seven points after their opening five Premier League games–an underwhelming tally despite some promise shown.

Martínez close to red card

While the Reds will feel like they should have taken all three points on the night, a different scenario could have easily played out.

Midway through the second half, United defender Lisandro Martínez lunged towards the ball with Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada also going for the tackle.

However, the Argentine centre-back jumped up and put his studs up to challenge for the ball, which was immediately blown for a foul.

Referee David Coote decided to provide Martínez with a yellow card, something that Palace players and supporters were in complete disagreement with.

The VAR decided against changing the decision to a red card afterwards.

Why VAR did not punish Martínez with a red card

This season, the Premier League have launched a social media page called the Premier League Match Centre, where decisions are shared directly from the VAR Hub and PGMOL experts.

On X, they posted that the reason Martínez was not sent off was due to the fact that no contact was made with Kamada, despite the challenge being deemed as reckless.

“The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Kamada,” they wrote.

“VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming this was a reckless challenge and made no contact with Kamada.”

Despite this explanation, many United fans will feel that their defender was fortunate to last the entire game.

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