Should Laporte have been sent off?
Aymeric Laporte was lucky to not be shown a red card as the Manchester City defender appeared to ‘slap’ Luka Modrić before falling the ground holding his own face.
City traveled to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against Madrid with a 4-3 lead after the first leg in Manchester.
Pep Guardiola’s side started the game well, edging possession and looking the more likely to open the scoring. However, many fans believe that the away side should’ve been reduced to 10-men in the first half.
Kevin De Bruyne was fouled by Madrid midfielder Casemiro, which led to both sets of players clashing as a result. As the players came together, Spanish international Laporte began to slightly push Modric as the Croatian attempted to speak to the referee.
Following this, the City centre-back appeared to slap the 36-year-old in the face, before dropping to the ground holding his own face.
This angered Modric and several other Madrid players, with the veteran midfielder and Laporte both being shown a yellow card as a result of the incident.
How did social media react?
Several viewers on social media suggested that Laporte should have been sent off for putting his hand in Modric’s face, with many criticising him for the theatrical way he dropped to the floor.
One user wrote: “That’s beyond embarrassing from Laporte.”
https://twitter.com/joel_archie/status/1521929970112765952
Former Manchester United defender and BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand said: “Laporte”, alongside a shocked emoji.
Laporte 😱👋#UCL
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 4, 2022
Another added: “Laporte smacked Modric in the face and then falls over holding his neck? lol”.
Laporte smacked Modric in the face and then falls over holding his neck? lol
— bateson87 (@bateson87) May 4, 2022
This user said: “Flicked over to Real v City. Laporte should be sent off for that nonsense.”
Flicked over to Real v City. Laporte should be sent off for that nonsense.
— Shane Stapleton (@ShaneSaint) May 4, 2022
Andre Noruega said: “This is ridiculous and disgusting. Laporte slaps Modric, then throws himself to the ground and holding his face pretending that HE got slapped. WTF??? Needs to be punished.”
This is ridiculous and disgusting. Laporte slaps Modric, then throws himself to the ground and holding his face pretending that HE got slapped. WTF??? Needs to be punished. https://t.co/2HegQU3HtU
— André 'Noruega' Østgaard (@AndreOstgaard) May 4, 2022
Another person wrote: “Laporte should be sent off.”
Laporte should be sent off.
— POOJA!!! (@PoojaMedia) May 4, 2022
Another account stated: “VAR is so biased. Laporte should be off. Should have known it was gonna be us against the refs. #RMAMCI”.
VAR is so biased. Laporte should be off. Should have known it was gonna be us against the refs. #RMAMCI
— Ryan (@RMA_Ryan_18) May 4, 2022
Another added: “So no yellow for Casemiro and Laporte gets a yellow for getting smacked in the throat, got it got it”.
https://twitter.com/rcatanese/status/1521930191815204864
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