Gary Neville has said on Sky Sports Premier League (5:45pm, September 12, 2021) that Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk did not deserve to be sent off for his challenge on Liverpool winger Harvey Elliott.
The former Manchester United defender believes that Struijk was shown the red card for the injury that his challenge caused rather than for the tackle itself.
In the 58th minute of the Premier League game between Leeds and Liverpool at Elland Road this evening, a challenge from defender Struijk saw Liverpool youngster Elliott suffer a serious injury.
Former England international defender Neville was on co-commentary duty for the match for Sky Sports, and he does not think that it was a dismissal.
Neville said on Sky Sports Premier League (5:45pm, September 12, 2021): “I didn’t think it was a red card.
“I thought it was a red card based on the severity of the injury rather than the severity of the challenge.”
It was clear from watching the tackle that Struijk did not mean to hurt Elliott at all.
Of course, that is not going to be of any consolation to the winger or to the Liverpool fans, but it would be wrong to criticise the Leeds defender.
Hopefully Elliott will recover soon and will not be on the sidelines for very long.
It did look like a horrific injury, and perhaps Liverpool will make an announcement on for how long Elliott will be out for.
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