Manchester United have failed in their appeal to overturn Lisandro Martínez’s three-match suspension following his sending off for hair pulling during their defeat to Leeds United, the Football Association (FA) has confirmed.
The 28-year-old defender was shown a straight red card in the second half of United’s 2-1 loss at Old Trafford last Monday after pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair during an aerial duel.
Referee Paul Tierney was instructed by VAR official John Brooks to review the incident on the pitchside monitor, after which he issued the red card. The Premier League Match Centre later classified the offence as “violent conduct”.
Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick criticised the decision at the time, calling it “shocking” and “one of the worst I’ve seen”, although the club proceeded with an appeal.
The FA confirmed on Friday that the appeal had been dismissed, publishing written reasons from the independent regulatory commission which upheld the original sanction.
United argued that Martínez had been wrongly dismissed and that a three-match ban was “clearly excessive”. The club also submitted video evidence, including an incident involving Leny Yoro in the build-up to Leeds’ opening goal, as well as other alleged hair-pulling situations in unrelated matches that went unpunished.
However, the commission ruled that the referee’s decision was reasonable and did not represent an “obvious error”. It also found no grounds to consider the punishment excessive, noting that hair-pulling incidents are not uncommon in football and fall within established disciplinary guidance.
According to Premier League and Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) guidance, players not contesting the ball who “make a clear action to pull the hair of an opponent or any other person with force” are to be sent off.
Martínez has already served the first match of his suspension in United’s 1-0 win over Chelsea and will also miss upcoming fixtures against Brentford and Liverpool.
His absence adds to United’s defensive concerns, with Harry Maguire also unavailable following a separate suspension.
Martínez will now sit out the visit of Brentford to Old Trafford on Monday and the high-profile clash with Liverpool on May 3.
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