A fan placed a £50 bet on there NOT being a card in the first minute of Sunday's crunch clash between Chelsea and Liverpool.
It was a frantic start to the game at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool forward Sadio Mane picked up the fastest booking in Premier League history when he caught Cesar Azpilicueta with a stray elbow in the opening seconds.
Some were convinced Mane should have been sent off for his actions but after a quick VAR check, referee Anthony Taylor decided to brandish a yellow card instead; a decision that brought plenty of reaction on social media.
Is Sadio Mane lucky not to have received an early red card? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/7BmDWDGr6a
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) January 2, 2022
Carra 🗣 "Worse than a yellow but not quite a red."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) January 2, 2022
Jimmy 🗣 "Are you serious? Have you got your red hat on?"@jf9hasselbaink can't believe @Carra23 didn't see Sadio Mane's incident as a red card pic.twitter.com/PSMe9uI4Az
You could say Liverpool's number 10 was a tad fortunate to stay on the pitch, but someone who experienced a rather unfortunate event during the opening stages of Sunday's game was Jack Lebeau.
Lebeau decided to place a £50 bet on there not being a card in the first minute of the game.
That's right. With odds of 1/1000, it looked like a sure way of netting 5p in profit but it just wasn't meant to be.
"Cheers Mane," he wrote on Twitter. "Just my luck that a 1/1000 bet would lose in 4 seconds."
Cheers Mane. Just my luck that a 1/1000 bet would lose in 4 seconds. pic.twitter.com/WtAhvkwGjf
— Jack Lebeau 🏴 (@JackLebeau66) January 2, 2022
Mane went on to score the first goal of the game as Chelsea and Liverpool played out one of the most entertaining games of the season.
After the final whistle blew on a 2-2 draw, a furious Cesar Azpilicueta slammed the officials, saying he didn't understand the decision.
"It’s a clear red, I don’t mind if it’s five seconds into the game and the first actions, it’s a clear red," he told Sky Sports.
"He doesn’t want to challenge, he doesn’t want to see the ball, he just wants to hit with the elbow. Honestly I don’t understand it.
"The other day we had two penalties where VAR didn’t come, today the first action is a clear red card. "Of course, we are getting these decisions against us that of course could change the way of the game."
Cesar Azpilicueta admits he was baffled by referee Anthony Taylor's decision not to send off Sadio Mane for an apparent elbow during the 2-2 draw with #LFC...
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 3, 2022
Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy also said international teammate Mane should have been sent off in the opening seconds of Sunday's game.
"Sadio is my brother, my compatriot," he told RMC Sport. "But he should not have stayed on the pitch after one minute."
Thoughts on the incident?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Twitter
Topics: Football, Premier League, Sadio Mane, Liverpool, Chelsea
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