‘Sadly…’ – Ex-refs chief frustrated as Borussia Dortmund star ‘escapes’ red card vs Man City
Pep Guardiola could have been dealing with a serious injury following an incident involving Jeremy Doku against Borussia Dortmund.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that referee Szymon Marciniak should have brandished a red card for Serhou Guirassy.
Doku has been in dazzling form for Man City, but the Belgian might have been sidelined had a challenge on him in the first half been more serious in terms of injury on Wednesday, 5 November.
The Citizens have already been handed multiple blows this season, with Omar Marmoush only just returning from injury, and a former FIFA referee expected a red card to be shown after one player was put at huge risk.
Keith Hackett wanted Serhou Guirassy sent off vs Man City
During the first half, Guirassy left Doku in a pile on the floor after a studs-up challenge on the winger while battling for possession, but not even a VAR review changed the decision of no punishment.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “It’s another of these stamping-type challenges that are sadly growing in numbers, and resulting in players losing out on future games because of injury.
“VAR clearly witnessed this challenge, and it was a red-card offence. However, the player escapes sanction. It is time for football to clean up its act and outlaw these challenges by sanctioning them with a red card.”
Hackett was also adamant that Mohamed Salah should have been sent off for Liverpool during their surprise defeat to Brentford, with a similar situation emerging at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Borussia Dortmund star only adds to the list of missed red cards
Hackett has been extremely observant of challenges throughout the 2025-26 campaign, especially in the Premier League, and Salah is not the only player who appears to have avoided a red card.
Under similar circumstances, Tottenham‘s Pedro Porro went crunching into a challenge on an Everton player, and the Spaniard totally avoided any punishment on this occasion.
The former head of the PGMOL is becoming concerned by the challenges that are being allowed to continue in football, and the tackle on Doku is yet another one of them.
While VAR checked the incident, there was still no action taken, even despite the referee failing to award a caution for a potential red-card challenge, and that is exactly what left Hackett so disappointed.