Ex-Premier League referee can’t believe ‘stupid’ Gabriel faces extended Arsenal ban
Gabriel’s red card as Arsenal fell to a 2-1 defeat to Man City on Saturday (1 January) was “avoidable” but correct to “the letter of the law”, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee insisted Gabriel’s actions after Man City were awarded a penalty kick were the “height of stupidity”.
The defender was cautioned after scuffing the penalty spot and showing dissent towards Stuart Attwell.
He was then shown a second yellow just two minutes later for a foul on Gabriel Jesus on the halfway line, as shown on the BBC’s Match of the Day programme.
Gabriel will now miss Arsenal’s next Premier League game with Tottenham.
“This is in the world of football is stupid, it ranks at the height of stupidity,” Hackett said after analysing the footage with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“There’s a full house, 22 cameras and referees in communication with the VAR guy. All these people and he thinks he will get away with scuffing the penalty spot.
“Look, it’s a nonsense really. The referee has ended up sending the player off and you can’t disagree with that in law. However, in my day, we wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to it but we would have said when the player has come away, ‘Do that again and you’re getting booked’.
“In the modern game, we have to understand the sheer frustration of the players. They rightly think they should have had a penalty kick and he’s annoyed by that.
“People do daft things. This wasn’t standing there and kicking it 12 times to obliterate the penalty mark. It was just a kick at the ground.
“These things can be managed at times with a public word. Bring the captain across and say ‘What’s he doing here?’.
“I can’t criticise the referee in law and then he’s faced with a challenge that did warrant a caution almost immediately and he’s rightly dismissed.
“It’s avoidable but at the end of the day the referee has carried it out to the letter of the law.”
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