Premier League explain why Lisandro Martinez escaped red card for 'ridiculous' tackle

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez escaped a red card in their goalless draw with Crystal Palace and the Premier League have issued a statement to explain why.

Referee David Coote decided to give the Argentine defender only a yellow just after the hour mark despite his two-footed stamp. The tackle fortunately did not make severe contact with the boot of Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada.

But there were calls for Martinez to be sent off due to the aggressive nature of the centre-back’s challenge.

The incident left Palace furious, with goalkeeper Dean Henderson getting cautioned himself for rushing off his line to protest Coote’s decision not to issue a red.

And a post soon after from the Premier League’s Match Centre account on X (formerly Twitter) read: “The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Kamada.

“VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming this was a reckless challenge and made no contact with Kamada.”

Speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp took aim at Martinez while rewatching the tackle – calling his challenge “ridiculous” and saying he was “lucky” to stay on the pitch.

The player-turned-pundit said: “Let’s run it at full pace. Sometimes everything looks worse in slow motion. Unfortunately that one doesn’t. I’d love to give you [an explanation] but I don’t know.

“It’s a tackle we saw many years ago. I don’t know what on Earth you’re thinking you’re going to gain by jumping in with two feet. If he lands on Kamada’s foot, it’s a straight red.

“The only reason he doesn’t is because he somehow just misses him, you can see as he lands, he just doesn’t catch him. You just can’t go in like that with two feet.

“I just don’t understand what the benefit of trying to tackle like that is. I thought it was a ridiculous challenge.”

Martinez’s former team-mate Phil Jones argued it wasn’t a red. He said: “It’s a difficult one. He’s probably a bit lucky there. There’s almost no need to go in with his two feet. If he’s a fraction out there, he’s seeing a different colour card.

“That’s his game, he’s aggressive, he’s strong. But he has to manage that aggression at the same time. It’s certainly not a red card by any stretch of the imagination but he’s lucky. He’s got to be careful there.”

The two teams went on to draw 0-0 at Selhurst Park, and it was a result that left Erik ten Hag “quite disappointed” given United had chances to earn all three points.

He said: “When we don’t win, I’m not content. We should have won. I think first half, we ate them alive. Then in the second half, it was more in the balance but first half, we should have scored one or two goals.

“I don’t think [so], we played very good. Total control of the game. In and out of possession, I think we played very good. The only thing was in the box, that is where the game is always decided. We should be more clinical there.”