Alan Shearer couldn’t imagine that Diogo Dalot was not shown a red card for his ‘terrible tackle’ on Jeremy Doku through the Manchester derby, blasting the ‘ridiculous’ decision from the referee and VAR.
Manchester United picked up a powerful 2-0 win over City at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime, however it might have been very different.
Dalot made a lunging challenge on Doku just 11 minutes into the competition, not getting near the ball and planting his studs high on the winger’s leg.
The Portuguese full-back escaped with a yellow card, despite VAR having a take a look at the incident, which left the Belgian on the deck.
The Premier League Match Centre confirmed why the foul was only worthy of a yellow card, stating that it was a ‘glancing’ impact.
An announcement posted on X read: ‘The referee’s call of yellow card to Dalot for a reckless challenge was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact deemed to be glancing and never with excessive force.’
Shearer was amongst the numerous individuals who didn’t agree with that assessment, confused as to how the reckless challenge might be seen as having a ‘glancing’ impact.
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‘There’s little question about it,’ Shearer said on Match of the Day. ‘It’s as clear a red card as you’re going to see.
‘They got here out with “deemed to be glancing.” That’s nonsense. That’s as straight, as full on, as high and as dangerous as you’re going to see.
‘He’s endangering the opponent. It’s a straight red card. That’s nonsense, the glancing thing. I understand why the referee hasn’t given it, but you’ve got two guys on VAR who don’t think that’s dangerous? That’s ridiculous. I don’t understand how they give you that. It’s a terrible tackle.’
Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney agreed, saying: ‘Initially I assumed it wasn’t but whenever you watch it back I believe it’s the clearest red card you’ll ever see. What’s worrying is that VAR don’t see that. That’s the large worry.’
‘We’ve to have a look at ourselves’
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola appeared to suggest he thought it was a red card as well, but was keen to not make an excuse for his team’s defeat.
‘You could possibly say that, you may say that red card, different game. Many, many situations occur,’ he said.
‘It is simple for me to return here and say it must be a red card. It isn’t about that; we is not going to grow up if that’s the argument to win or lose a game. You’ve gotten to do higher, and we didn’t today.
‘We’ve to have a look at ourselves. There are some teams that won 10v11. Possibly we wouldn’t have won.’
‘What more do you would like for a red card?’
Definitely the consensus of ex-players appears to be that it was a transparent sending-off, with Roy Keane agreeing with Shearer and Rooney.
‘Listen, I’ve been down this road before, I’ve given out some heavy tackles and been on the receiving end of a couple of,’ said the previous Manchester United captain on Sky Sports.
‘To me, I’m no expert on red cards, but I believe it’s a red.’
Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards added: ‘He’s on top of his knee. That’s as clear a red card as you’re going to see. What more do you would like for a red card? Studs on the knee. It’s a red card.’
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