"Should be outlawed from football" - Ex-Premier League referee slams Manchester United star for dangerous act in Chelsea draw

Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has slammed Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez for his tackle on Chelsea's Cole Palmer. The incident happened during the dying embers of the 1-1 draw between the two sides at Old Trafford on Sunday, November 3.

Hackett highlighted how Martinez's high boot could have seriously injured the Englishman as he was caught on the knee. He called for such tackles to be outlawed from football and opined the Argentine should have been shown a red card. He wrote in his column for the Telegraph:

"The type of tackle Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez unleashed on Chelsea's Cole Palmer should be outlawed from football before a player is seriously injured. In the dying moments of the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, Martinez went in studs up and raked his boot down Palmer's leg, he deservedly was shown a yellow card, but it should have been red.The landing area of the boot was on Palmer's knee and quite clearly it endangered the player's safety.

"Referee Rob Jones was in a good position to view the incident and decided yellow. He probably concluded that there was insufficient force behind Martinez's challenger to warrant a stronger sanction. That for me was a clear and obvious error and VAR should have asked the referee to go and review the incident on the pitch-side monitor. We have seen a lot of yellow cards this season but the laws, which were penned to protect players by issuing red cards, should be enforced when appropriate."

Manchester United and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw, which was the Red Devils' first Premier League match since the sacking of Erik ten Hag. Bruno Fernandes gave the Red Devils the lead in the second half from the spot before Moises Caicedo equalized four minutes later.

Manchester United legends admit defender was lucky against Chelsea

Manchester United legend Roy Keane admitted that Lisandro Martinez was lucky to avoid a red card for his foul on Palmer. He believed there would have been no complaints from United fans had Martinez been sent off.

He said on Sky Sports (via United in Focus):

"The lad’s a lucky boy. He won’t be happy with Palmer making a fool of him and he’s obviously gone in there... it’s a nasty tackle. Obviously, I'm always wary of criticising players for tackles because I done some daft stuff. He's a lucky boy. I don't think he does catch him properly – it's down the side of his leg.... But if he got sent off, I'd say there'd be no complaints."

Gary Neville was on Sky Sports, analyzing the match, when he claimed that the Manchester United star should have been sent off. PGMOL previously revealed that VAR saw the tackle as reckless but not a serious foul play.