Spain’s Segunda (second) division match between Fuenlabrada and Girona at the Estadio Fernando Torres on Sunday saw a bizarre incident as Cristobal Marquez was sent off twice in the space of a few minutes.
Marquez was shown a red card by referee Isidro Diaz de Mera with his team trailing by a goal to nil. The marching orders were given after the referee thought Marquez went in with a high boot during a collision with Girona captain Alex Granell.
However, the refereed decided to have another look at the incident in the monitor as VAR was used to make the final decision. The replays showed that Marquez had not made any contact with his boot and had only collided with Granell with his other leg.
The referee then decided to bring the midfielder, who had already made his way to the dressing room, back to the pitch and downgrade his red card to a yellow.
Well, that is all normal.
But that’s when things took a bizarre turn for the worst. Marquez made his way out to the pitch after being summoned back from the dressing room and got himself in trouble again. He yelled at Granell before going head to head with him in a heated altercation.
The referee decided he wouldn’t have any of it and handed Granell his first yellow card and Marquez his second. This meant the Fuenla player had to go off again, having received a second red card within minutes, without play having resumed.
Furthermore, the referee even handed Fuenla coach Miguel Chamorro a red card for his protests and he was forced to follow Marquez to the locker room.
The match eventually ended with Girona holding on to their 1-0 lead and Cristhian Stuani adding the match-winning goal to his name.
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