Red Card

It was a fiery weekend across French football as 10 red cards across an equal number of Ligue 1 matches punctuated both a riveting title race and the tense fight against relegation.

At the bottom end of the table, a 15th-minute red card for Angers helped Lorient stay four points clear of the drop zone, while in Bordeaux, Steven N'Zonzi's eighth-minute sending off for Rennes helped the hosts maintain a five-point cushion from the bottom three.

Let’s just rename the “hockey assist” — where a player assists the assist — the Pulisic assist after Christian Pulisic helped create another goal on Saturday. The American provided the pass that Ben Chilwell sent across for Timo Werner to slot home for the match winner as Chelsea scored a massive 1-0 win over West Ham. Sadly, the match was marred by an absolutely ludicrous Fabián Balbuena red card in the final 10 minutes.

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimović was sent off for dissent as his side earned a 3-1 win at Parma in Serie A on Saturday.

Milan eased into a comfortable two-goal lead at the break thanks to goals from Ante Rebic in the eighth minute — a strike that was brilliantly set up by Ibrahimović — and a fine Franck Kessie finish on the stroke of halftime.

Milan's task became much more difficult just before the hour mark, however, as out of the blue, Ibrahimović was given a straight red card for something he said to the referee, much to the Swede's bemusement.

The 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup kicked off with a somewhat drab scoreless draw between the Houston Dash and Chicago Red Stars on Friday night. The second match of the day, played late on the West Coast, had enough action in just the final few minutes to more than make up for it.

The Portland Thorns held off Kansas City 2-1 on Friday at Providence Park, but not until after four red cards were shown in the final five minutes of a wild game that finished after midnight ET. 

The Concacaf Champions League kicked off Tuesday night and it didn’t take long to remember why Concacaf can very much be used as a verb or adjective to describe weird shit happening. While the call was the right one in the end, it appeared the referee may have been swayed to give the Brad Guzan red card because of the protests from players on the other team.

In a sign of just how good Bayern Munich is right now, the German giants went down a man in the 12th minute and still found a way to demolish Stuttgart 4-0 on Saturday at Allianz Arena. 

Alphonso Davies was shown the first red card of his career, but it mattered little as Bayern scored three times in the 10 minutes that followed. Robert Lewandowski had a perfect hat trick by halftime as he passed yet another milestone. 

With playing time drying up at Newcastle, American fullback DeAndre Yedlin was allowed to leave on a free transfer to Galatasaray at the end of January. At one time one of the most promising Americans in Europe, the former Sounders speedster had seemingly run out of options in England after stints at Tottenham, Sunderland and Newcastle. 

Referee Mike Dean has decided not to officiate at any Premier League games this weekend after he and his family received death threats following recent controversial red card decisions, British media reported on Monday.

Dean was criticized after he sent off Southampton defender Jan Bednarek during their 9-0 defeat at Manchester United last Tuesday and West Ham United midfielder Tomáš Souček during Saturday's 0-0 draw away to Fulham.