Michael Carrick condemned Lisandro Martinez’s red card as “one of the worst” refereeing decisions he had seen after Manchester United lost 2-1 to Leeds at Old Trafford. Martinez was sent off after VAR spotted a momentary tug on Dominic Calvert-Lewin; referee Paul Tierney went to the review monitor and dismissed Martinez, who now faces a three-match ban.
The Argentine appeared bemused as he left the pitch, having been grappling with Calvert-Lewin at the time. Carrick was furious that what he described as a brief, unintentional touch was punished so harshly. “It’s not a pull, it’s not a tug, it’s not aggressive, he touches it and gets sent off. Worst of all is he was sent to overturn it as a clear and obvious error. It’s shocking,” Carrick told Sky Sports. He added that Martinez had “half touches the back of his hair which pulls the bobble out” and called the decision “one of the worst I’ve seen.”
United trailed 2-0 at half-time after a Noah Okafor double. Carrick was also frustrated that Leeds’ opening goal was allowed to stand despite Calvert-Lewin appearing to catch defender Leny Yoro in the face with an arm in the build-up. “They didn’t decide to overturn that, which was a big moment in the game,” he said, adding that United “didn’t start the game particularly well” and struggled to find rhythm.
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher sympathised with Carrick, saying many would view the Martinez incident as not worthy of a red card. Carragher compared it to other incidents and the evolving handling of hair-pulling cases this season, noting that while a clear, forceful hair pull should be a red card, he felt Martinez’s and Michael Keane’s (against Wolves in January) sendings-off were softer. “I don’t think any football fan, any player, any manager watching that thinks it’s a red card,” Carragher said on Monday Night Football.
Guidance added to the 2025-26 Premier League handbook states players “will be sent off if they are clearly pulling the hair of an opponent with force” — a standard Carragher felt did not apply in these situations. He referenced other historical examples and suggested officials sometimes consider “what the game wants” when applying rules.
Former United defender Gary Neville took a different view on his podcast, saying Martinez should have been aware of the heightened scrutiny and that a hair pull, even if not violent conduct, falls into a category players should avoid. “It’s not the equivalent of spitting, but it goes into that type of category that it’s something that you just don’t do, that you know you get a red card for,” Neville said. He described the decision as “a bit soft” but accepted that, once spotted by VAR, Martinez was always likely to be sent off and will now miss three games.
Martinez is not the first Premier League player to be dismissed for hair pulling this season, and the debate continues over consistency and where the threshold should lie between a technical red card and punishment reserved for clear, forceful hair pulling.