Spotlight on some ‘nasty and silly’ red cards in football history

GhanaWeb Feature by Benjamin Sackey

Red cards in football have helped protect players from dangerous tackles that could ruin their careers and potentially cause severe damage to their health.

As players battle for laurels in the game, they are sometimes forced to make aggressive tackles to prevent their opponents from scoring or winning the ball.

There are moments where players are sent off for offensive fouls, accumulated yellow cards, or fighting their opponents out of anger and frustrations.

10. Gabriel Martinelli was shown 2 yellow cards in 7 seconds.

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Van Persie

Robin van Persie received one of the harshest red cards in recent football history while playing for Arsenal against Barcelona in the Champions League in March 2011.

The Gunners went into the 2010-11 second-leg tie 2-1 up on aggregate after sealing a famous victory at the Emirates Stadium three weeks earlier.

Van Persie found himself through on goal with only Victor Valdes to beat but missed the target with his weaker right foot. Referee Massimo Busacca then stunned the Dutchman by flashing a second yellow card, followed by a red, in his direction.

Van Persie was penalized for shooting after Busacca had blown his whistle for an off-side and subsequently sent him off.

8.There were SEVEN red cards in the Superclásico after River Plate scored a last-minute penalty against Boca Juniors

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was caught in a frustrating situation when Manchester United were chasing Arsenal at the top of the Premier League in April 1998 and being held 1-1 by Newcastle at Old Trafford.

With two minutes to go, the Magpies surged forward on the counter-attack through Rob Lee, leaving the Norwegian – only recently introduced from the bench – with no choice but to hack him down to prevent a damaging winning goal for the visitors.

It was a cynical foul and an obvious sending-off.

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