"That decision was one of the worst I've ever seen" — Michael Carrick's fury after the Leeds defeat was clear. The FA's regulatory commission just as clearly disagreed. Manchester United's appeal against Lisandro Martínez's red card has been rejected, and the Argentine will serve all three matches of his ban.
The incident itself happened on April 13 at Old Trafford, with Leeds already 2-0 up. Martínez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin went up for an aerial ball, a VAR review followed, and the referee decided Martínez had pulled the striker's hair. The sending off helped Leeds seal a 2-1 win. United were incensed.
Why the appeal failed
United submitted three videos alongside a letter from their club secretary. One showed the full incident, one highlighted a foul on Leny Yoro that went unpunished, and a third showed a more blatant hair-pulling by Fulham's Kenny Tete in February that didn't even earn a red card. The argument: inconsistent officiating, wrongful dismissal, clearly excessive punishment.
The commission — former Premier League referee Steve Bennett, ex-winger Stuart Ripley, and former Southampton defender Francis Benali — didn't buy it. Unanimous verdict: no obvious error was made.
Their reasoning was pointed. Martínez "grasped" the hair, Calvert-Lewin's reaction "suggested that he had felt a certain amount of force," and therefore the referee's interpretation of the VAR footage was not unreasonable. On the punishment question, the commission acknowledged hair pulling sits low on the violent conduct scale — but ruled it "ought not to be tolerated" and should be "discouraged through consistent punishment." That's a philosophical position as much as a legal one.
Carrick's Tete comparison — a more obvious tug that went unpunished — is legitimately awkward for the FA to answer. They didn't really address it.
What this means for United's run-in
Martínez has already served one match of the ban, sitting out last weekend's win over Chelsea. The remaining two are the Premier League home game against Brentford on April 27 and the trip to Liverpool on May 3. He returns for the Sunderland away fixture on May 9.
Losing your first-choice centre-back for a game at Anfield is the kind of thing that can define a season — or it would have been a month ago. United's grip on a top-five finish has tightened since Chelsea's collapse, and Champions League qualification now looks close to a formality. Two wins from five remaining games should do it.
Harry Maguire is back from his own two-match ban, and Ayden Heaven delivered an eye-catching performance against Chelsea. The defensive cover exists. But Martínez versus Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah would have been a different challenge to whoever lines up without him — and anyone pricing United's defensive solidity at Anfield should factor in the absence of their most aggressive aerial defender.
The three-match ban stands. The FA has spoken, and the argument ends here.
