Leeds United suffered another major blow in their quest to retain their Premier League status last week when they suffered defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
Former White Eddie Nketiah had a quickfire brace which put Arsenal in a commanding position just 10 minutes into the game. Then it went from bad to worse as, before the half-hour mark, Luke Ayling saw red before Diego Llorente pulled one back for Leeds who fell to a 2-1 defeat.
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Their Brazilian wide man, Raphinha, was incensed with the referee’s decision to send Ayling off and made his feelings known in no uncertain terms, hunting the official down in a fit of rage.
Sky Sports’ David Prutton was disgusted with what he saw, writing for the Yorkshire Evening Post, he said:
“I’ve been in a position in a relegation fight where I have completely lost it and let my team-mates down so I know exactly what it’s like and the brickbats that come with that and deservedly so and Raphinha, to me, looked like a player that wanted to be sent off.
“That was a team-mate who was totally out of control, who wasn’t listening to his team-mates so then you have got a player that is on the pitch in person but not spirit or mind. He’s gone, totally gone, and therefore useless to what the team ethic is after that.”
TIF thoughts on David Prutton’s comments…
The actions of Raphinha that day were unacceptable, the challenge was a clear red card and the referee referred back to the footage on the VAR monitor to make the correct decision. Also, to ignore your teammates like that isn’t on when they’re trying to prevent you from receiving your marching orders.
To say he wanted to be sent off feels harsh, there’s a good chance he cares greatly about Leeds and wants them to stay up and the severity of the situation just got to him and his emotions boiled over.
However, the reaction from the Brazilian was certainly edging close to picking himself up a quickfire double of yellow cards from the referee.
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