Amid the chaos of Thursday’s 7-6 win for Manchester United over Lyon, one controversial decision caught the eye of Mark Clattenburg, who labelled it as “ridiculous”.
Thursday night saw Manchester United host Olympique Lyonnais in an enthralling quarter final second leg, with both teams putting in a bid to reach the Europa League semi finals.
This match resulted in Ruben Amorim’s side coming out as 5-4 victors, after a breathtaking extra time. United started quickly with two goals from Manuel Ugarte and Diogo Dalot in the first half, but then the drama ensued.
Lyon hit back with a late couple of goals scored by Corentin Tolisso and Nicolas Tagliafico, before the former was sent off for two yellow cards just as extra time was approaching.
This disadvantage didn’t slow Paulo Fonseca’s team down, however, as a tidy strike from Rayan Cherki gave them the lead, before Alexander Lacazette slotted a penalty away to double their advantage.
An inspired fightback from United then began, with a penalty from Bruno Fernandes cutting the deficit, Kobbie Mainoo equalising minutes later, and Harry Maguire scoring in the 120th minute to flip the script.
Controversy amid the chaos
When speaking with United in Focus, Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg displayed how outraged he was by the decision made by Swiss referee Sandro Schärer to send Tolisso off in the 89th minute.
“The Tolisso red card is a ridiculous decision,” Clattenburg claimed.
He carried on by saying, “To receive a yellow card in this situation was for stopping a promising attack, and this was not the case as there was a covering defender who could easily play the ball.”
“Watching another angle, I am not sure there was much contact either to award a foul. Therefore Manchester United have got lucky in this decision.”
Clattenburg’s final thoughts on the topic were that, “Unfortunately VAR cannot interfere on a second yellow card but will raise the argument on why not when such decision is clearly wrong.”
Rio Ferdinand agrees on United fortune
When watching back replays of the incident that saw Tolisso sent off, it is apparent that the Frenchman barely made any contact with Leny Yoro, who made the most of it.
United hero Rio Ferdinand spoke on TNT Sports after the game, where he preached similar views to Clattenburg, as he also thought that the sending off was harsh.
“I think that’s harsh, I think that’s harsh. It is not deliberate,” Ferdinand said.
Although this talking point will definitely be overshadowed by the absolute chaos that followed in extra time, it was definitely a factor that helped sway the tie in United’s direction, and it’s a decision referee Schärer may not look back on with fondness.
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