Olivier Giroud was sent off against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal fans were left aghast when Olivier Giroud was sent off against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week for two bookable offences.
Already carrying a yellow card, Giroud received a second yellow card after challenging PSG’s Marco Verratti for possession.
Although the Arsenal striker made contact with the Italian, Verratti dramatically fell to the floor, before he quickly began protesting in the direction of the referee.
Nevertheless, the match official chose to ignore the incident until Marquinhos arrived and pushed Giroud.
Despite little or no contact being made with Giroud, Verratti then fell to the ground for a second time, resulting in both players being booked and leaving Giroud on the receiving end of a red card.
Verratti pourrait être blanchit par l’UEFA concernant son carton rouge contre Arsenal ! #PSGARS#PSGpic.twitter.com/5VyVRBJqPZ
— Paris No Limit™ (@ParisNoLimit) September 13, 2016
As angry as Arsenal fans were in the immediate aftermath of the incident, they became enraged upon learning that UEFA cannot overturn the red card unless the referee’s error was to mistake the identity of the player.
This means the unfortunate Giroud will be banned for one game, and leaves Arsenal without their first choice striker for their crucial tie with Basel in two weeks time.
By contrast, Verratti could be about to have his yellow card overturned. According to Le Parisien, PSG have successfully appealed his booking arguing that a “manifest error” had occurred, by pointing out that Marquinhos should have instead been booked.
If the Parisian newspaper is correct, then the Italian midfielder will be free to play against Ludogorets later this month, as he will have avoided picking up yellow cards in consecutive matches.
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