Mirror Football
October 13, 2026
Alan Shearer and former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg agreed that Leny Yoro should NOT have been sent off against Atletico Madrid. The Manchester United defender was given his marching orders in the 74th minute after dragging down Atleti forward Jonathan David just inside the Reds' half.
Play was originally allowed to continue, with Ademola Lookman forcing Senne Lammens into a save one-on-one. The referee made the decision to bring the play back and award United a free-kick after David handled the ball on the floor before his teammate got the shot off on goal.
However, VAR intervened and told Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg to go to the monitor to review the coming together for a red card. Yoro was the last man and was adjudged to have made significant enough contact to deny David running clear, meriting a straight red despite it appearing soft.
Speaking on Amazon Prime's coverage of the game, Shearer said: "It wasn't [a foul] for me. He goes down too easy. It's not a foul."
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Clattenburg agreed and said: "I agree with Alan. That's extremely soft. He puts his arm across, and the two players are fighting for position.
"I just think he goes down very, very easy. This has to be a clear and obvious error, and I don't believe it is a clear and obvious error from the referee.
"The VAR is going to recommend that it's a red card. Yes, it's central but I just think it's a coming together.
"There is an arm across the shoulder, but that contact is very slight. I don't believe, in my opinion, that it's a red card. But we know from this review what is going to happen."
Shearer added: "I didn't think that was enough. It's a contact sport, an arm on someone doesn't mean it's a foul. You know as a forward, as soon you feel a touch, whether it's an arm or not, that he's going over.
"You hope that the referee realises that. Not enough for a red for me, but and it's a huge but, Manchester United have only got themselves to blame. They have created chances but they've missed far too many."
Wayne Rooney, who was on puditry duty for the match, said after the full-time whistle: "The red card I thought was very soft, it wasn't a red card...
"The red card meant he had to change his shape. The red card gave them no chance."
United created plenty of opportunities, but they fell behind after just 53 seconds when Pablo Barrios opened the scoring for Atleti.
The visitors huffed and puffed but couldn't find a way past Jan Oblak in the Atleti goal, with substitute Ademola Lookman adding a second in the 79th minute to put the result beyond any doubt.
Michael Carrick is now under serious pressure as United's nightmare start to the season continued. The United boss desperately needs to arrest their slide, and next faces a tricky trip to rivals Leeds on Sunday.
Article by Mirror Football. GoalingBreak shows the text for easier reading: all rights remain with the publisher.
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