Premier League issue official statement on Lisandro Martinez red card for 'violent conduct' against Leeds United

Tonight saw Manchester United fans’ 24-day wait for a return met with a 2-1 loss to Leeds United at Old Trafford.

However, the loss wasn’t the only devastating feature of the game, as Lisandro Martinez was handed a red card early in the second half.

United were already down 2-0 after only 29 minutes thanks to a Noah Okafor brace, with The Red Devils unable to answer before half-time.

Then, as the second half kicked off, within five minutes, Luke Shaw was handed a yellow card to accompany Matheus Cunha’s booking in the first half.

However seven minutes later in the 56th minute, Lisandro Martinez saw red, being sent off by referee Paul Tierney.

Lisandro Martinez sees red for “violent conduct”

During an aerial challenge, Martinez grabbed Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s ponytail, pulling out his hairband.

While Tierney initially missed the incident, VAR called the play back, with the referee heading to the pitchside monitor.

Following the review, the hair-pulling was deemed violent conduct, seeing the red card held to the United centre-back.

Now, the Premier League have backed the decision with a post on X reading: “After VAR review, the referee issued a red card to Martínez for violent conduct.”

The statement continued: “Referee announcement: ‘After review, Manchester United 6 is guilty of pulling his hair – violent conduct. Final decision is red card.'”

Naturally, the loss of Martinez, taking Michael Carrick’s side down to ten men, made United’s battle back from 2-0 down even more difficult.

However, Casemiro pulled one back in the 69th minute, once more linking with Bruno Fernandes.

Unfortunately though, it wasn’t enough to see United claim any points from the game, seeing them remain on 55 points now tied with Aston Villa after their draw with Nottingham Forest yesterday.