Tottenham Hotspur fans were left baffled by an incident during Chelsea v Manchester United.
Manchester United claimed a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Monday night, but Harry Maguire’s role in the victory has been shrouded in controversy.
The Red Devils took a first half lead through Anthony Martial, before Maguire powered home a header from a Bruno Fernandes corner to seal the win.
Yet whether Maguire should have still been on the pitch to score that second goal has become a hot debate amongst fans and pundits in the aftermath of the game.
In the first half, Maguire was caught in a tangle on the touchline with Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi, and appeared to kick out at the Belgian.
Batshuayi went down and some of the Chelsea bench were calling for a red card, but Maguire wasn’t even booked, and VAR didn’t intervene at all.
It was a situation somewhat similar to another Chelsea incident in December, as Son Heung-min was sent off for Tottenham Hotspur having kicked out at Antonio Rudiger.
There really wasn’t much difference between the two incidents, so Son being given a straight red card and Maguire given absolutely nothing – before then going on to score the winning goal – has left fans baffled.
Even Roy Keane, speaking on Sky Sports (17/02, 20:55), suggested that Maguire should have been sent off because Son was too, calling for consistency given the similarity of the incidents.
“He’s very lucky, a lucky boy,” said Keane. “He definitely kicks out. He’s a lucky, lucky boy. I think it’s a red card. If we look at Son one, I think Harry Maguire’s personality has helped him, I think they do look at the package and think ‘is he a nasty type of player?’. Yes, of course, (you could say the same about Son), even though he’d been sent off a couple of weeks before that for a tackle up at Goodison, but the argument all day will the consistency, because if Son was sent off, then really Maguire should be sent off for the same,” he added.
Tottenham fans have been taking to Twitter to share their anger at the situation, claiming it’s one rule for one club or player and another rule for another, with supporters not seeing any difference in the two incidents, as the word ‘ridiculous’ was used on a number of occasions…
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