Kevin Campbell has claimed he ‘would have completely understood’ if Anthony Taylor had decided to hand Cristiano Ronaldo his marching orders after lashing out at Curtis Jones during Liverpool’s Old Trafford rout.
The Portuguese international had incurred the wrath of 20-year-old’s teammates after launching a few kicks at the downed midfielder.
“Nobody could have argued if Ronaldo had been sent off,” the former Arsenal attacker told Football Insider.
“Yes, the ball was there but the aggressive nature of it was the issue. The ball was so close to Curtis Jones.
“If that was a red card I would have completely understood.”
The Red Devil escaped with only a booking, with the official’s performance coming under question after other contentious moments were deemed to have been dealt with too leniently.
Whilst some will argue that contact made with the ball shouldn’t qualify as an aggressive act toward the player, we’d be inclined to agree that the incident wouldn’t have raised many eyebrows had Taylor upgraded to a red card.
Ultimately, we’ve come away with a historic win at Old Trafford, however, we still have to consider the safety of the players involved in the tie, particularly given that the official’s leniency at times did little to discourage risky challenges.
No one wants to see a player sent off before a ball is kicked, however, it’s necessary that referees put their foot down when it comes to overly aggressive behaviour in order to promote a safer game.