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Football

17th Jan 2018

Pedro’s embarrassing dive gets appropriate response from Gary Lineker

FFS

Darragh Murphy

Pedro should definitely feel ashamed when he watches this back.

After one of the most blatant dives in recent memory, Pedro was shown a yellow card for attempting to deceive referee Graham Scott on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge.

With Chelsea chasing a second goal in their FA Cup replay against Norwich City, Pedro hit the deck under a challenge from the onrushing Canaries goalkeeper, Angus Gunn.

There was no semblance of contact from the stopper and the distance between the players made the official’s decision rather easy, as a free kick was awarded to the visitors.

https://twitter.com/RyeFootball/status/953740255454224386

The Spanish winger looked rightly humiliated as he jogged away from the incident and the piece of simulation prompted the appropriate reaction from Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, whose four-word response to the dive was echoed across the nation.

But Lineker’s followers were quick to remind the former Leicester and England forward that he was no angel at certain stages of his career.

Perhaps justice was served in the Pedro incident because the 30-year-old was sent off for a second yellow card in extra time for a rash challenge.

Alvaro Morata was also given his marching orders for two yellow cards in quick succession in the final moments of the game.

Morata was initially booked for diving in the area before an aggressive diatribe towards the referee ensured that he wouldn’t be taking a penalty following the 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.

While Blues fans will be furious about the poor decision-making from both Morata and Pedro, Chelsea blushes were spared as they scraped through the shootout and into the fourth round, where Newcastle await them.