Ex-PL Ref: Man City player set for extended ban as controversial footage surfaces
Aymeric Laporte’s red card in Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace has no chance of being overturned.
That is the opinion of ex-Fifa and Premier League referee Keith Hackett, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider as Laporte faces a three-match suspension.
When he brought down Wilfried Zaha in the first half of Saturday’s match at the Etihad, he was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity.
The defender will now miss Man City’s derby against Manchester United, as well as games against Everton and West Ham.
When asked about the decision, Hackett told Football Insider’s Connor Whitley, “Absolutely correct decision.”
“Again, some of the social media comments thought it was harsh. Is it a foul or is it not? It’s a foul, it ticks that box.
“[What about] the distance from goal? Yes, it’s some distance but the skill of players now, that’s easy. They can make up that ground very easily. Distance is ok, tick.
Better GIF to show the incident: pic.twitter.com/zCXGb3DEcv
— Has the Referee or VAR made a poor decision? (@PoorEPLreferees) October 30, 2021
“The direction of play is towards the goal, tick. The probability of Zaha controlling the ball is also a tick.
“It’s a definite red card, no hesitation. The player has to go. It was a good piece of refereeing.
“When you coach referees you talk to them about visualisation. You say to them ‘To help the process and speed it up, in your own mind, take away Laporte from that challenge, if that challenge hadn’t been made the player would have had a shot on goal’. They may have missed but he would have a shot.
“This one was a clear red card.”
Ex-PL Ref: Man City player set for extended ban as controversial footage surfaces
