Red Card

Mario Balotelli just might be having his most Mario Balotelli season ever for Ligue 1 club Nice. The Italian striker has an excellent 11 goals in 19 appearances, and also a not-so-excellent eight yellow cards and three sending-offs (one of which was later rescinded) in that same period. 

His latest red, for dissent, came on Saturday against Lorient.

Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce and Besiktas met in the Turkish Cup round of 16 on Sunday, and Robin van Persie took center stage to make the match entirely about himself. 

Just before halftime, Van Persie clashed with Besiktas defender Dusko Tosic. The Dutch striker appeared to knee and elbow the Serbian, and the two then squared off face to face. They might’ve brushed noses, but it was Van Persie who had the idea to start screaming and fling himself at the ground. The referee bought what Van Persie was selling and sent Tosic off.

Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner worked as the Borussia Dortmund reserve team manager from 2011-2015 with Jurgen Klopp coaching the senior side. When Klopp was handed the task of managing Liverpool, Wagner was offered the role at Huddersfield in the English Championship.

Wagner, like Klopp, is in his 40s, wears nice glasses and is a bit emotional. On Sunday, Wagner reacted to his side’s late game-winning goal against Leeds United by running the length of the pitch to celebrate with his players.

Sunday’s Premier League encounter between Arsenal and Burnley at the Emirates featured damn near everything. With Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United all failing to win on Saturday, it was up to the Gunners to keep the pressure on league leaders Chelsea.

Mike Dean’s track record is unreal. He pioneered the Dirty South sound of the 90s while working with the Geto Boys, Nate Dogg, Tech N9ne and UGK. In recent times, he’s worked with Kanye West on all of his albums, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean and Desiigner. He’s a living legend, but Mike Dean has received a ton of criticism lately after wrongly sending off Sofiane Feghouli in Monday’s match between Manchester United and West Ham.

This is, without a doubt, the strangest sending off we’ve ever seen. FC Porto came up against Moreirense in a must-win match in the Portuguese Taca da Liga cup competition on Tuesday night. With Moreirense leading 1-0 in the 79th minute, the referee inexplicably ended any hope Porto had of advancing to the semifinals by giving Danilo Pereira his second yellow card of the match and sending him off. 

His offense? Being ran into by the referee. It’s a shockingly ridiculous decision that calls into question the integrity of everything. This guy is tripping off the power. 

Being a professional referee in the Premier League is an extremely tough job. The old adage “Who would ever want to be a referee?” rings particularly true in the EPL. They get more abuse than we as fans care to admit, and every single one of us has been guilty of being on the wrong side of a decision before viewing the instant replay.

Video replay made its first appearance in the world of football at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. We all appreciate FIFA for at least willing to experiment the replay system and see how it would work, but it’s fair to say that escalated quickly.