Dan Bardell: ‘Shocking’ Lisandro Martinez went unpunished for Leon Bailey elbow vs Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Lisandro Martinez was “lucky to get away” with an elbow on Leon Bailey as Aston Villa beat Manchester United in the Premier League, says Dan Bardell.
The pair clashed during the 3-1 victory at Villa Park on 6 November but went unpunished by the referee, despite both the assistant on the pitch and the one in the video booth looking at it.
Bailey was very critical of the situation on his personal Twitter account afterwards, and Bardell has backed him up as he felt it was “shocking” that nothing came of it during the game.
“I think [Martinez] was quite lucky to get away with it”, he exclusively told Villa News.
“I know it’s not an elbow to the face but it’s definitely a deliberate elbow to the ribs and if VAR have looked at that, which I think they did, I don’t understand why they’ve not penalised him for it.
“He’s a very good player, Martinez, obviously a bit of a hot head and has a temper, but he’s a fantastic defender and he’s an aggressive player which is how he plays the game.
“But you can’t go round doing things like that.
“Leon Bailey was on the floor for a long time and said he couldn’t breathe for a few seconds.
“If VAR is there for that kind of violent conduct it needs to be getting looked at and I was surprised he wasn’t pulled up for it.
“I don’t think he was even booked, so to not even pick up a yellow card for a deliberate elbow to the ribs after the ball has gone, I think was quite shocking.”
While it didn’t affect the result in what was an excellent first game in charge for Unai Emery it was the sort of oversight that could have ended up being crucial.
The Argentine defender appeared to get away with an elbow to Villa’s Jamaica international twice, either side of a larger coming together as he attempted to shield the ball out, and with video replays available it is the sort of thing that doesn’t help the case of those operating VAR.
In other Aston Villa news, Richard Keys was in full agreement with Bailey over the incident.