Rafa queries Mascherano red
24 Mar 2008 - 10:24:32
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez felt that midfielder Javier Mascherano was unlucky to be sent off in the first half of the Reds' crushing 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Having already been booked for a foul on Paul Scholes, Mascherano was dismissed for dissent after he approached referee Steve Bennett to query the yellow card shown to team-mate Fernando Torres.
Benitez commented: "The player knows he has made a mistake, but in this kind of game to be sent off just for asking, I find it a difficult decision to understand.
"I don't know whether it was anything to do with the Ashley Cole incident, you will have to ask the referee. Was the referee intimidated by the crowd? I don't know, you must ask him.
"Javier was sent off for dissent, but to be sent off for asking the official something is a surprise. He knows he made a mistake, but in a big game like this it is difficult to understand.
"I was talking with him in Spanish, he told me he was just asking, but I was saying finish, because you cannot change things.
"Javier is a fantastic professional and has been playing for years at the maximum level. He just did not understand.
"I was trying to say to him 'finish, finish', but we are still very disappointed with the decision.
"I have talked to him and he knows it was a mistake, but he was booked earlier for a tackle and did not understand why. I felt the sending-off was difficult to understand.
"I do not think that just to ask is a big problem in the end. Maybe Javier does not know the referees."