Neville and Carragher disagree over Mane red card
Gary Neville believes the decision to send Sadio Mane off for a high challenge on Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson was the wrong one, but Jamie Carragher disagrees.
Gary Neville believes the decision to send Sadio Mane off for a high challenge on Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson was the wrong one, but Jamie Carragher disagrees.
Mane caught Ederson with a high boot just outside the penalty area and was shown a straight red card by referee Jon Moss.
It appeared that Mane had his eyes firmly fixed on the ball but the impact left Ederson seriously injured as he had to be take off with a stretcher and there is lots of debate as to whether Moss made the right decision.
Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Thierry Henry both think Moss made the wrong decision in sending Mane off.
Neville said: "It's one of those I don't think he needed to give a red card, it wasn't expected and I think he's got it wrong.
"How many times this season do you see a foot high, when a player goes with their head and the player gets there first and the foot goes into the chest.
"You very rarely see a red card for it, you might get a yellow."
Heny added: "I think I would have gone for it, it's an unfortunate 50/50 for the goalkeeper.
"The referee saw the player down and that played on his mind, sometimes it can play on your mind. The goalkeeper had to go for it, the player had to go for it and if that happened in midfield it wouldn't have been a red.
"Did he give a red straight away or did he wait and see what happened with the goalkeeper?"
Neville continued: "Let's not be clouded by the fact he's going to be stretchered off, that's unfortunately part of the game, players clatter into each other."
However, former Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher disagreed with his fellow pundits.
He said: "It's a red card. I didn't initially think it was, I thought there was a coming together in a 50/50.
"People will say 'he had his eyes on the ball' but that doesn't matter. Sadio Mane hasn't tried to do him but if you don't get there and your boot is that high you get a red card for excessive force.
"I took some convincing and I didn't think so on first viewing, but Jon Moss got it right. It was difficult for Mane, the ball was there and he had to go for it but he's suffered the consequences."