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Football

12th Apr 2022

Assistant coach runs on pitch to stop opposition counter attack, gets sent off

Callum Boyle

It sparked a wild brawl on the pitch

An assistant coach in a Spanish lower league game was sent off after he ran on the pitch to stop an opposition counter-attack in the last minute of normal time.

The scenes took place between Madrid-based sides Villanueva del Pardillo and Colmenar Viejo with the game poised evenly at the time following the home side’s 83rd minute equaliser.

The assistant denied the chance to make it 2-1

Footage shows the assistant running onto the pitch and intercepting a ball sent through for the forward, who would have been within a good chance of putting his side 2-1 up and claiming a huge three points.

Unsurprisingly, he was shown a straight red card after the forward who was denied a potential goalscoring opportunity threw his hands in the air before pushing the assistant.

Both clubs have released a statement

Villanueva del Pardillo FC reacted to the incident at full time on Twitter. They said: “Great game which was tarnished by the actions of the rival manager which we consider contrary to fair play and the values of football.”

Del Pardillo then followed up with another tweet which said: “The action in question was not carried out by the manager, but by the assistant manager. He was red-carded for running onto the pitch to stop a counter-attack.”

Meanwhile Colmenar Viejo released a statement which said: “We regret what happened. An isolated action should not call into question the image or the values this club has demonstrated in all categories for so many years.

“Our assistant made a mistake and expressed his total regret immediately over what had occurred.

“Once the match had finished, a club representative who was present in the ground personally said sorry in the name of the club to representatives of Villanueva del Pardillo who we are on good terms with and always have been. This apology is something we now make publicly.”

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