‘Plaiting my kid’s hair is more violent’ – Ferdinand slams ‘absolute joke’ Man Utd decision vs Leeds | OneFootball

Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand is fuming about the referee’s decision to send of Lisandro Martinez in a 2-1 defeat to Leeds on Monday night.

Noah Okafor’s brace within the first 30 minutes of play at Old Trafford on Monday gave Leeds a dream start before Martinez’s sending off early in the second half gave the visitors another advantage.

Brazil international Casemiro did give Man Utd one route back into the game with a headed goal on 69 minutes but the Red Devils had to settle for defeat.

The big talking point of the match was Martinez’s red card with the incident not picked up by on-field referee Paul Tierney before VAR intervened.

Martinez was seen to have pulled Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair and was sent off for violent conduct after Tierney reviewed the incident on a pitchside monitor.

Calvert-Lewin said he felt his hair getting pulled during the incident but the Leeds striker thought it was an “unfortunate” sending off for the Argentina international.

The Leeds man told Sky Sports: “I don’t know, I don’t make the rules. I felt my hair get pulled, told the ref, he makes the decisions. Unfortunate for him, whether he meant it or not. I hold no grudges.”

Former Man Utd defender Ferdinand was left astounded at how VAR and the referee could view the pull on Calvert-Lewin’s hair as violent conduct.

Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel: “The refereeing decisions in this game were an absolute joke. Yeah he does his hair, it’s fine, it’s not violent conduct. How is that deemed as violent conduct? I don’t understand it, it’s not.

“The flailing arm is much more of a hard…and if you are going to say anything violent out of the two scenarios, it’s that. And I’m saying Dominic Calvert-Lewin should be well within his rights, that’s within the rules, I think, it should be fine.

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“I’ve got elbowed in my face loads, not proper elbows, I’m talking when your arms, when you are fighting and jostling to get on the ball. That’s normal, that’s football – but taking out a hairband the way he did.

“Plaiting my kid’s hair is more violent than doing what I saw on the TV last night. It’s a joke, I can’t get my head around what is going on and I’m not sitting here trying to defend Man Utd, we lost the game fair and square to Leeds.

“Well done to Leeds United for winning the game at Old Trafford. Massive, massive, massive win for them, especially in their fight to stay up, but those decisions in the game were terrible.”