Former Premier League referee provides laughable response to Amad Diallo’s red card vs Liverpool

Former Premier League referee Dermott Gallagher delivered a laughable response when asked about Amad Diallo’s red card during Manchester United’s 4-3 win over Liverpool.

Amad, 21, was shown his second booking in the 122nd minute of the iconic FA Cup clash after the United winger took his shirt off following his last-gasp winning goal.

Of course, that decision in particular was correct by the book—even if players such as Bruno Fernandes have called for a change to the rules.

However, when describing the overall officiating of that game, Gallagher believed that John Brooks had “one of the best refereeing performances” that he’s ever seen.

Dermott Gallagher on Amad’s red and Brooks ‘best performance’

“It’s 25 years since they decided this should happen so he should have got used to it by now!” the referee explained when asked about Amad’s red card on Sky Sports.

“I don’t really think we should be talking about. It was one of the best games you’ve seen, one of the best refereeing performances I’ve ever seen.

“The referee is hamstrung, isn’t he. He’s gone through the game perfectly, it was so blatant that he’d taken his shirt off so it was a yellow card. It’s just unfortunate.

“It goes back to the famous Ryan Giggs goal. He took his shirt off and in certain areas of the world, it’s seen as offensive. So FIFA decided it was going to be outlawed. It’s not the ref’s fault.

“It’s just a law. It’s not one the referees like because he’s the pantomime villain now.

“I’d rather look at John Brooks [the referee] and say ‘for 120 minutes, you played your part in this spectacle’, and for one minute, it wasn’t in his hands.”

Watching the game with his eyes closed?

It was quite baffling to listen to those comments because the referee’s display on the day was actually a pretty poor one overall.

The decision for Amad’s first yellow card was particularly baffling, with Brooks giving the Ivorian a booking when he was stood over the ball during a Liverpool free-kick that had stuck forward several yards.

He booked Amad… and then moved the ball back to the original spot. There were also zero ‘major’ decisions that he got correct to really take the tag of having what Gallagher essentially described as a world-class performance with the whistle.

Thankfully, United were on the winning side, so we can look back at the refereeing performance without the same annoyance as if we had lost.