Fuenlabrada player has red card reversed by VAR...then sent off again before a ball is kicked!

Getting sent off twice in a season is bad enough – how about twice in a single match? Fuenlabrada midfielder Cristobal Marquez will be one of few to know quite how that feels.

Cristobal found himself at the centre of one of the most peculiar incidents of the season on Sunday, as Fuenla hosted Girona at Estadio Fernando Torres in Spain's Segunda.

With Fuenla chasing a 1-0 deficit, they looked to have received a significant blow when Cristobal was sent off after a collision with Girona captain Alex Granell – the former seeming to go in with a high foot.

But following a VAR review, Cristobal's red card was downgraded to a yellow card and he had to be fetched from the hosts' dressing room.

Fuenla's joy was short-lived, however, as the nonsense was just getting started.

While making his way back on to the pitch, Cristobal pointed at Granell, made a talking gesture with his hand and then became embroiled in an altercation with him – the pair going head-to-head.

Referee Isidro Diaz de Mera showed them both a yellow card, and subsequently Cristobal's second red of the day.

Fuenla coach Miguel Chamorro then followed Cristobal back to the locker room after he too was shown a red card for his protestations.

There was to be no VAR reprieve this time, and Fuenlabrada succumbed to a 1-0 defeat - Cristhian Stuani with the decisive goal.

Cristobal can at least console himself with the fact he was party to one of the most bizarre red card incidents one is ever likely to see.

 

February 2, 2020