Manchester United learn new Lisandro Martinez suspension verdict after red card appeal | OneFootball

Defender was sent off for a hair pull on Dominic Calvert-Lewin

It meant that Martinez, 28, missed out on the Red Devils’ 1-0 win at Chelsea last weekend, with Michael Carrick down to his bare bones at the back.

Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro missed out through injury and suspension respectively, as Ayden Heaven and Noussair Mazraoui partnered in the heart of defence.

Now, Martinez will not feature on Monday against Brentford, in a huge game for both sides’ European quests.

United need four points to guarantee a Champions League place while Keith Andrews’ high-flying Bees are battling it out for a top-seven finish.

In a statement released on Friday, the independent regulatory commission said that other forms of violent conduct "carry a much higher risk of harm to an opponent”, but “in the wider interests of football 'hair pulling' ought not to be tolerated and should be discouraged through consistent punishment.

"The commission members were unanimous that the referee could not be said to have made an 'obvious error' in dismissing LM [Lisandro Martinez]," the report read.

Carrick branded Martinez’s dismissal against Leeds as “one of the worst I have ever seen” earlier this month.

Martinez will now sit out of United’s next two fixtures, which both take place at Old Trafford aganinst Brentford this weekend and Liverpool the following Sunday.