Manchester United felt Celtic’s pain as they found themselves on the end of another atrocious VAR decision after Marcus Rashford’s red card in Denmark tonight. United are in Copenhagen for the UEFA Champions League but have found themselves down to ten men after the England attacker was given his marching orders near half time.
After Daizen Maeda was sent off for a challenge last night, football fans questioned whether they had seen the softest sending off in Europe’s top competition; however, this was followed up tonight with the England Internationalist being shown a straight red for accidentally landing his foot on top of the ankle of an opponent. It was clear that there was no malice in the action; although once the referee was told to check the monitor, you knew that there would only be one outcome.
Marcus Rashford received a red card for this challenge, the right call? 🔴 pic.twitter.com/CmOKbHPTDa
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 8, 2023
Daizen Maeda’s sending off was a foul, it was late and warranted a yellow card. That was all. However, Ivan Kruzliak checked the monitor and decided to send the Japanese attacker off, while the game was fairly evenly poised at 1-0 to Atletico.
There is an increasing trend of games being refereed by VAR officials that are sitting behind TV screens away from the ground. Former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou made the same point after Monday night’s game against Chelsea with large breaks in play. Once the referee goes over to the monitor, there is little doubt that they will follow the lead of the VAR official.
