Chris Sutton believes Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven avoided a blatant red card vs Villarreal
Tottenham Hotspur kickstarted their Champions League campaign with a victory on Tuesday night. They defeated Villarreal 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Lucas Bergvall’s attempted cross from the right spilled by goalkeeper Luiz Junior into his own net in the fourth minute.
The Lilywhites’ performance was rather underwhelming though as they struggled to create many meaningful chances against Villarreal. The own goal from Luiz Junior eventually turned out to be the difference between the two sides, something that would have mattered little to Thomas Frank on his debut Champions League outing as a manager, although the Dane has urged his team to improve going forward.
However, a late incident left many watching the game puzzled.
Chris Sutton thinks Micky van de Ven should have been sent off vs Villarreal
Villarreal were proving to be a tough nut to crack. Going forward, they started knocking on the door for an equaliser in the final 10 minutes of the game. Marcelino’s side had ramped up the pressure and Tottenham were nearly pegged back late in the contest.
Micky van de Ven’s palms would have been sweaty as he fouled Georges Mikautadze while trying to win the ball as the Villarreal forward was chasing down a through ball. It initially appeared the referee had pointed to the penalty spot, but instead it was a free-kick just outside the box. VAR quickly confirmed the contact took place outside the box and the referee’s decision was upheld.
There was further reprieve to follow as it was ruled that the Dutchman did not deny Mikautadze a clear goalscoring opportunity and made a red card offence, and therefore he was shown only a yellow card. However, that decision did not go down well with Chris Sutton. The former striker turned pundit thought the ref’s decision not to send off Micky van de Ven was “staggering” despite the defender denying the Villarreal attacker a clear goalscoring opportunity.
“The foul is outside the penalty area and if so, surely that is a red card for Van de Ven?” Chris Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live (h/t BBC Sport).
“That is very odd that it’s been awarded as a yellow. That’s a staggering call. It’s a denial of a goal scoring opportunity.”
Van de Ven was lucky to stay on the pitch
Frank’s Champions League debut with Tottenham may have ended with a victory, but a somewhat average display after Luiz Junior’s early own goal still left plenty of room for improvement going forward. As for Van de Ven, he was extremely lucky to get away with a red card.
The 24-year-old defender brought down Mikautadze when he was through on goal, and ideally, should have been sent off. As because the Hungarian international was drifting away from goal with the ball, the referee perhaps decided to brandish a yellow card and not a red, and the VAR felt it was the right call and thus did not intervene.
Thankfully for Frank and Tottenham, the players defended extremely well and saw out the remaining minutes on the clock to cling on to a vital victory on the opening Champions League night.
