Was his initial yellow card unfair? In my opinion, yes. I did not see the malicious intent. It was early in the game and he had not produced any fouls prior to that. And replays showed that once he realized he was not going to retrieve the ball, he pulled out of the tackle. Was it a foul? Absolutely. There was no contact with the ball. But the man in charge deemed it worthy of a yellow card.
So why was it a yellow card? Beats me. Possible reasons are: referee, Steve Bennett didn’t have the instant replays and it looked worse than it was from his point of view. Maybe he felt that tackle was one that would have started a trend and he wanted to stamp it out before things got out of hand. Or, maybe he just doesn’t like Mascherano’s face. Whatever the reason; it’s clear that calls are not up for debate.
After the first yellow, Mascherano’s reaction was sufficient enough for a red card right there and then. Verbally abusing the referee, getting right in his face, and being overly aggressive. It was a big game, so he let it slide fearing the backlash. I wouldn’t be surprised if he began to question the original yellow card. The game continues. Mascherano, seemingly unfazed by his yellow card as he continually made reckless challenges and question referee Steve Bennett calls. Of course, a few tackles latter and more attitude from Mascherano left Liverpool with 10 men. What a complete waste. The end result was completely disastrous as Manchester United went on to thump the Reds 3 – 0. Effectively stamping out the league championship and further jeopardizing the fourth and final Champions League spot.
So what is Benitez to do? He literally had to grab a hold of Mascherano and talk some sense into him before he left the pitch. A club fine would be ok. Further match game suspensions handed down by the league is better. But what else can be done? This came not even a week after Ashley Cole’s fall out with a referee during the match at White Hart Lane. Cole went in studs first on Alan Hutton of Tottenham and proceeded to turn his back on referee Mike Riley when being shown the yellow card. Cole turned his back on the referee and that was enough to spark intense media debate over respect for officials in the EPL. It was talked about all week. Apologies were made. Vows renewed by clubs to enforce good behaviour from their players. Not even a week passed by and cameras were zoomed in on Mascherano’s mouth as he repeatedly told the referee to ‘Fuck off’ after the first yellow card. Mascherano then seemed to lose his mind after being shown the red card.
The recent quoted response from Mascherano was: “I do not know why I was sent off”; followed by, “All I did was ask him what was happening, nothing else”. I must admit, I do admire his attempt to plead ignorance. But it’s hard to do when you’re playing an important game with cameras watching your every move. We know why you got a red card and we can tell you exactly what you did wrong: You didn’t keep your mouth shut.
3 comments:
Mascherano's actions cannot be defended, especially since Liverpool had been awarded the free kick. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's players suggesting the ref card an opponent. It was a shame. If Liverpool can beat Everton this weekend, I think they'll be fine for qualifying for next year's champions league.
That's a big 'if' asone.
Everton is in form and can focus solely on obtaining that final spot. Liverpool have bigger things to focus on as the Champions League starts up again.
I'm backing Everton to put a stop to Liverpool and Fiorentina putting a stop to A.C. Milan.
Let's change it up a bit.
Important victory for Liverpool Sunday. I figure they're set to return to Champions League again next week. Now to put their attention back to this year and Arsenal (as if they could think about anything else with three games to play in the next week.
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