Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has given his verdict on the altercation between Cristiano Ronaldo and Tyrone Mingus during Manchester United's 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.
It was a disappointing afternoon for United, as their nine-match unbeaten streak came to an end at Villa Park. Former Arsenal manager Unai Emery's team blew the Reds away inside the first 11 minutes, scoring twice, before adding a third just minutes into the second half.
The frustration could be felt across the pitch, as shown when Lisando Martinez and Leon Bailey tussled for the ball just past the hour-mark, leading the Villa man to question the performance of Anthony Taylor after the game. However, the biggest incident of the match happened just moments earlier, when Ronaldo and Mings had to be separated by their teammates as they nearly came to blows inside the penalty area.
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The United captain for the day refused to back down after tussling for position, and a tangle ensued on the pitch with players from both sides pushing and shoving one another. Gallagher has now had his say on the incident, claiming that the right outcome was reached, with a yellow card given to both Ronaldo and Mings.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "There are three outcomes. Do nothing, yellow card - which they did - or red card. You can't do nothing because it's not possible to say it didn't happen. Is it the top end of the scale? No, there were no punches thrown. There was a lot of grappling, but I think a lot of that is players pushing and shoving. They ultimately came to the right decision, it wasn't a red card.
"The ball had gone dead. The VAR is checking for violent conduct, that is all it can do. It cannot check for yellow cards, that is up to the referee."
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