Should Bayer Leverkusen Have Been Reduced To 10 Men?

Last night was an entertaining and ultimately frustrating evening of Europa League football as Celtic narrowly lost out to Bayer Leverkusen in the closing stages of the match.

After going behind, the Hoops drew level through a penalty kick after Kyogo Furuhashi was wiped out in the box. Officials initially failed to spot the infringement but VAR intervened and the referee duly pointed to the sport after watching a replay at pitch side. However, the big question is ‘should the referee have sent off Lukáš Hrádecký for dangerous play?’

in FIFA’s laws of the game, dangerous play is described in the following way: “Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themselves) and includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.”

Moreover, the laws state that a red card should be produced for an incident of serious foul play, which is defined as follows: “A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play. Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.”

Footage of the incident can be seen from exactly two minutes into this video:

Make up your own mind. Does that punch to the head merit dangerous/serious foul play?

About Author

Hailing from an Irish background, I grew up on the English south coast with the good fortune to begin watching Celtic during the Martin O'Neill era. I have written four Celtic books since the age of 19: Our Stories & Our Songs: The Celtic Support, Take Me To Your Paradise: A History Of Celtic-Related Incidents & Events, Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys: Celtic's Founding Fathers, First Season & Early Stars, and The Holy Grounds of Glasgow Celtic: A Guide To Celtic Landmarks & Sites Of Interest. These were previously sold in Waterstones and official Celtic FC stores, and are now available on Amazon.

2 Comments

  1. Rob O’Keeffe on

    Outrageous challenge by the keeper.Definite red card.Amazing thing was that the ref wasn’t even interested in the incident until being informed by the VAR team that they were looking into it.Ref was a weak diddy,booking for CCV was a total joke.Does MadHun have a Greek ‘brother’?