“Has a footballer ever been sent off but still won player of the match?” asked Jimmy Clark. The short answer is yes, quite a few. We’ll kick off with a couple of recent examples.
“In 2024 Anthony Gordon was shown a second yellow card for Newcastle against West Ham just as the TNT commentary team were declaring him the player of the match,” writes Tom Reed. You can see the moment in question in this video (around 2:50), as Gordon is dismissed after kicking the ball away. Perhaps the substitute Harvey Barnes, who scored twice in the 4-3 comeback win, would have been a better choice.
