Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher issue verdict on contentious Wolves red card

Gary Neville expressed his sympathy for Raul Jimenez following the Wolves striker’s controversial red card against Leeds United.

Bruno Lage’s side led 2-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Jonny Casto Otto and Machado Trincao and were in complete control. But the game turned eight minutes after the break when Jimenez picked up his second yellow card following an innocuous-looking collision with Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier.

It was the break Leeds needed as they fought back to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Jack Harrison, Rodrigo and Luke Ayling, who hit the winner at the start of added time. Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Neville had no complaints about Jimenez’s first yellow card, but felt the second was harsh.

“He’s entitled to go for it,” said the former Manchester United defender. “What are we saying now, that strikers have to give way? And if there’s any chance they’re not going to get there, you have to pull out? Kevin Friend was waiting for him to get up, he made his mind up straight away.”

Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher said: “If he gets there before the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper’s getting booked for that. No-one does anything different, it’s just who gets there, your timing, reading the situation. When that ball got played through, everyone thought Jimenez is in and I winced when I saw the collision.

“Jimenez doesn’t doing anything dangerous, like put his foot up or his knee up, it’s just a coming together at such speed and they’re saying it’s endangering the opponent because of the intensity of the challenge. But the goalkeeper had the same intensity, it’s just that he got to the ball first, that’s why I was uneasy about him getting the yellow card.”

Neville added: “In real time, we were asking each