Paul Pogba did not deserve second yellow card, argues Mark Clattenburg

There was plenty of confusion after Paul Pogba's red card on Tuesday night.

It was initially unclear whether Pogba or Ashley Young had been sent off in the dying moments of the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. Eventually, it was made clear that Pogba had been shown a second yellow card for his poorly timed challenge on Dani Alves, having already been booked in the first half. It was a feisty match at Old Trafford, which saw no fewer than nine players receive yellow cards and there was no shortage of flash points across the ninety minutes. https://twitter.com/VMSportIE/status/1095443647930265607 Some argued that Pogba deserved a straight red for the tackle, while others suggested that Ashley Young was lucky to stay on the pitch after colliding with Angel di Maria in the first half. Mark Clattenburg has given his take on the Young and Pogba incidents, insisting that the referee got it right with the full-back but made an error with the Frenchman.

"Referee Daniele Orsato got it right — Young’s challenge on Di Maria did not warrant a second yellow card," Clattenburg wrote in the Daily Mail.

"The slope at the side of the Old Trafford pitch made it look far worse than it was. Had this match been played on a pitch surrounded by an athletics track, for example, the coming together between Young and Di Maria would have looked like an innocuous shoulder-to-shoulder challenge. 

"Although VAR was in action last night, Orsato was not able to review this incident as second yellow cards cannot be checked. 

"The referee got this call right — but got it wrong when sending off Paul Pogba at the end. 

"The challenge was not a reckless foul and did not warrant a second yellow."