Manchester United: Cuneyt Cakin wasn’t wrong to send off Nani

Roy Keane was castigated from certain spheres last night on the back of his comments regarding Nani’s sending off. In fact, Keane had every right to say what he said, despite his litany of problems with discipline over the years (and I’m certainly not forgiving him for that). For those who won’t accept his view because of his problems, I’ve never gone out onto a pitch to purposefully injure another professional footballer (being neither a butcher nor a professional footballer), so I’m allowed to say it – it certainly wasn’t ‘wrong’ to send Nani off yesterday.

Remember the reaction to Nigel De Jong’s tackle in the 2010 World Cup final? A kick to the chest was criticised from all segments, but last night’s tackle wasn’t. There’s been a number of excuses, such as Nani not realising there was a player behind him, to it being considered a genuine attempt to get the ball. But you’d have to argue that any number of sendings off a season are not ‘intentional’ – it would be ridiculous to suggest the intent of Ryan Shawcross was to break Aaron Ramsey’s leg, but it is the consequence that matters in refereeing, not the intention, except where moments of violence are concerned (obviously if someone intends to punch someone but misses it is still a huge incident).

The reality is that Luis Nani kicked his opponent in the chest, planting his studs square on his upper body. We send people off for studs on a leg, never mind higher up, so surely the punishment should be the same? It is similarly punished in Europe as a general rule, so Nani should not have been surprised. A logical man would not go around taking risks like Nani did yesterday.

As an aside, ITV’s reaction was pathetic and symbolised much of what is wrong with modern football coverage – there’s an inherent bias afforded to certain teams. Analysis should be taken without emotion, and it wasn’t done so, which is awful as it affects public opinion incorrectly. It was not a travesty like they tried to suggest. It was a decision that could have been either a yellow or a red, and Cuneyt Cakir pulled out a red. Simple as.

Follow Amitai Winehouse on Twitter (@awinehouse1).

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7 thoughts on “Manchester United: Cuneyt Cakin wasn’t wrong to send off Nani”

  1. i agree too. is there any possibility nani could receive a length ban, al a cantona? what about possible jail time? i hate the portuguese, they are so different from us. as a matter of fact, i hate technical football players. you never see any effort from them on the pitch. c’mon, they were blessed with great skill, don’t have to train, at least they could huff-and-puff around the pitch. give me charlie adam, scottie parker, and michael dawson any day of the week. United should face further sanctions, too. i didn’t watch the match, but saw the highlights and took journalist’s rendition of the truth as gospel. as always.

  2. Sorry totally disagree!!!!

    Firstly to compare de Jongs tackle is ridiculous. De Jong was looking at Alonso and fully knew the risk he was taking, it was a disgusting attempt of a tackle. Nani did not make a tackle, i think this has been overlooked by anyone who thinks he deserved to sent off. All nani did was attempt to control the ball out of the air, I’ve seen him do this on numerous occasions, it was simply unlucky that arbeloa came colliding into him. The ref should have spotted this and made the correct call.

    The goalkeeper punched vidic in the head purely by accident which was equally dangerous but nobody mentions this and rightly so,but they are very similar incidents.

    Howard bartle, if this incident had if happened to your team who would see what the fuss is. 99% of pundits and ex. players appear to share the same view, so there is clearly something to discuss here, particularly as utd were in total control and an idiot ref has once again cost a team the match

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