West Ham red card v Lyon was rash as Ex-Ref explains law
West Ham will have been slightly disappointed to have only drawn at home to Lyon in their Europa League quarter-final first leg despite having 10 men.
The Irons were only a man down because referee Felix Zwayer was very quick to send Aaron Cresswell off following a coming together between him and French striker Moussa Dembele.
It looked as though the ball was heading towards the corner flag when the two collided and Dembele threw himself to the floor before winking at his teammates once the red card had been brandished.
Given the speed in which Zwayer went to his back pocket, you would assume it was a stonewall sending off but when you think about it for longer than a millisecond, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
He was not the last man nor was he denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity but the German was adamant in his dictatorial dismissal of the Hammers’ left-back.
Former FIFA referee Mark Halsey explained the law to CaughtOffside and when you hear what Zwayer has to consider, the decision becomes even more baffling.
“Under Law 12: Fouls and Misconduct, German referee Felix Zwayer had to consider: the distance between the offence and the goal, general direction of play, likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball and the location and number of defenders,” Halsey said.
For anyone to consider every single one of these factors properly would take a good few seconds and maybe even a chat with the assistant referee who had a great view of the incident.
Not Zwayer though, he must be superhuman if he can deduce all of that instantly because he should not have sent Cresswell for an early bath that quickly otherwise.
We have to hope the club appeal the decision quickly to get him back for the return leg and pray that Zwayer isn’t assigned another Irons game this season.
In other West Ham news, Jason Cundy went mad on talkSPORT when discussing the red card incident last night.
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