Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Stellini gives honest verdict on Lucas Moura’s red card in Everton draw
Tottenham Hotspur’s interim manager Cristian Stellini was of the opinion that both the red cards, including the one received by Lucas Moura, were deserved in the 1-1 league draw against Everton.
The Lilywhites had an eventful game, whereby a confrontation between Harry Kane and Abdoulaye Doucoure resulted in a red card for the latter in the 58th minute. The Englishman did not back down from having a tussle with Doucoure.
But it was the Everton midfielder’s hand to Kane’s face that resulted in a red card. The 29-year-old striker perhaps stayed down a bit too long, which could have been interpreted by some as exaggerating contact.
But there was no doubt that Doucoure caught him. Kane scored from the spot in the 68th minute after Michael Keane conceded a penalty. Two minutes from time, Lucas Moura went in for a very rash challenge on Keane.
Spurs held to a draw
It was clearly not intentional. He didn’t want to hurt the English centre-back and he didn’t hurt him as well. But the Everton defender stayed down, shouting on the ground, with the referee showing Lucas a straight red.
A couple of minutes later, Keane, who you would have thought wouldn’t be able to play on for a single second going by the way he acted after Lucas’ tackle, scored a thunderous goal from outside the box.
Speaking after his team’s highly disappointing 1-1 draw on Merseyside, Stellini told Sky Sports (h/t BBC):
“I think Harry Kane conceded a lot of tackles today and it was a red card. I also think Lucas Moura did a dangerous tackle and it was a red card.”
Everton are now 15th in the league while Spurs remain fourth with 50 points from 29 games. Lucas would have been a sore miss for us if it wasn’t for Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski, Kane, and Son Heung-min. It wouldn’t be fair to blame the draw on the former Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winger.
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His sending-off, however, did peg us back. One can also raise questions against Spurs’ defenders and midfielders, who let a centre-back let fly from 25 or so yards out. Perhaps they wanted him to shoot because they didn’t expect him to score. He did. Lesson learnt for next time.
