Arsenal winger Ethan Nwaneri is at the centre of a red card controversy after a dangerous tackle in a cup tie in France.
Nwaneri is on loan to Marseille from the Gunners and played the first half of their 3-0 win over Rennes in the Coupe de France round of 16 at the Velodrome on Tuesday night.
In a physical battle between the Ligue 1 rivals, OM came out on top thanks to goals from Amine Gouiri, former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Premier League outcast Mason Greenwood.
Ethan Nwaneri’s tackle sparks red card debate
The post-match furore is the result of a tackle by Nwaneri on Rennes midfielder Glen Kamara, who’s played much of his career in England and Scotland and spent five years as a junior on the books at Arsenal.
Kamara, a Finnish international and formerly of Rangers and Leeds United, limped out of the CdF fixture wearing one boot and one sock after Nwaneri’s challenge near the touchline.
With the score at 1-0 after Gouiri’s early opener, Kamara was carrying the ball up the left wing and Nwaneri, tracking the midfielder, dived in from the side with studs showing.
While footage of the incident confirmed that the contact on Kamara’s ankle was brief, it caused the 30-year-old’s lower leg to buckle and ended his involvement in the match.
Nwaneri was shown a yellow card for the tackle but there is uproar in the French football community, with a fierce debate ongoing as to whether the teenager should have been sent off.
The criteria for a red card certainly seem to have been met by Nwaneri’s foul but the match referee deemed a yellow to be sufficient and VAR was not in use in the round of 16.
Nwaneri joined Marseille on loan during the January transfer window with a view to playing first team football more regularly. He scored in a win over Ligue 1 leaders Lens on his debut, allowing Paris Saint-Germain to overtake them, and played 67 minutes of Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Paris FC.
It’s been a tumultuous period for Marseille, whose season began with a brawl between teammates Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe, both subsequently bombed out of the club, and reached its nadir with a tame league phase elimination in the Champions League last week.
There was another training ground bust-up before the game against Rennes, this time involving Geoffrey Kondogbia and Arthur Vermeeren and welcomed by head coach Roberto De Zerbi.
That outlook is frequently in evidence on the pitch, where OM can be aggressive and confrontational. De Zerbi has built a team with a certain character, making Marseille the scourge of referees and opponents alike.
