Former Premier League referee chief Keith Hackett believes Manchester United have no grounds for complaint over Leny Yoro's sending-off in the defeat to Atletico Madrid, citing an "illegal use of the arm" by the defender.
Yoro started back-to-back games for the first time this season, returning to his familiar central defensive role after being deployed at right-back in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham. He partnered Lisandro Martinez in the Spanish capital, tasked with keeping tabs on Atletico strikers Jonathan David and Julian Alvarez.
Gameplan disrupted early
United's gameplan had to be thrown out of the window inside the opening minute as Pablo Barrios broke the deadlock after Yoro could not get back in time to prevent Alex Baena from picking out the central midfielder. While United did have chances to score an equaliser, any hope of leaving the Estadio Metropolitano with at least a point was dashed upon being reduced to 10 men in the 74th minute when Yoro was sent off.
United head coach Michael Carrick blasted the decision after referee Glenn Nyberg was advised to the VAR screen to check the Frenchman's foul on David.
Hackett backs referee's call
However, upon reviewing the incident, Hackett believes it was the correct call due to an "illegal use" of the arm from Yoro when denying David an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
"Manchester United can have no complaint regarding the dismissal of Leny Yoro for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity," Hackett told Football Insider. "When the referee visited the monitor, he is looking at, first of all, was a foul committed? The answer is yes. The illegal use of the arm confirmed that and then he has to look at the direction of play.
"Well it was pretty central and distant from goal. Had the player not been fouled, the likelihood of him getting a shot away on goal was high. Therefore, for me, the criteria has been fulfilled and the player had to go."
Shortly after Yoro had been dismissed, Ademola Lookman doubled Atletico's lead and consigned United to a third defeat in five games across all competitions.
