Red cards for this? See what Hummels and Felipe were sent off for

Nowadays, it is a trend to punish sharp interventions with a red card to protect the health of players. But sometimes it’s too much. Like in the case of Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels and Atlético Madrid’s Felipe.

Borussia Dortmund challenged Ajax, Atlético Madrid went to Liverpool. Both Dortmund and Atlético had their match very complicated as both teams’ stoppers had to take showers in the first half. Mats Hummels was red in the yellow and Felipe in the blue jersey.

And another common denominator is the fact that both were quite controversial. It is certainly commendable to protect the health of the players, but it must not be overdone, as it would make the players afraid to go into fights.

Hummels was the first to see red at Signal Iduna Park. True, he didn’t have to go into such a slip in the middle of the pitch, but it certainly wasn’t for a red card. He didn’t hit Antony in any way, his subsequent overplaying of the situation probably decided the red card for the BVB stopper.

“I’m unhappy about the red card. For me, this is just not a sending off,” Mladá Boleslav stopper Marek Suchý sighed in the studio.

A few minutes later came another controversial red card, this time at Anfield Road. Atlético were already down 0:2 to Liverpool, and referee Makelie made the match even more difficult for the Colchoneros.

Sadio Mané was on the run and was brought down from behind by Felipe. Yes, stopping a counter-attack, a clear yellow card. But to everyone’s surprise, the head referee drew a red card.

But it’s not clear whether Makelie gave Felipe the red card for the tackle or for the subsequent behaviour. The Brazilian did not obey the referee’s instruction to go to him and kept backing up in his own half. So maybe the referee got angry and gave Felipe a red card for disobeying his instruction.

Source: Twitter, Livesport