Premier League star’s ‘second of insanity’ sees him despatched off for hair pulling

On Dec 4, 2024

Southampton captain Jack Stephens was handed his marching orders after VAR spotted him pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.

Stephens had led his team out at St Mary’s, only for Axel Disasi to send Chelsea ahead within the opening ten minutes – Joe Aribo would level the game for the Saints, but they were quickly behind again as Christopher Nkunku found the net.

With the Saints trailing, Stephens was involved in a penalty box clash with Cucurella. Referee Tony Harrington initially missed the incident, but he was soon summoned to the pitchside monitor where he was left with no choice but to brandish the red.

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“Just unbelievably stupid in the VAR era,” one fan fumed. While a second said: “I know it’s naive to do it but I have a hard time feeling that’s worthy of a straight red for Jack Stephens.”

“Jack Stephens you genius, funniest red card we’ve ever seen,” a third shared. And another added: “I will take a last man challenge and get sent off but that is utter madness by Jack Stephens. So stupid!”

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It’s Stephens’ second red card of the season – after he was previously slapped with a three match ban following his sending off against Manchester United in September.

The incident involving Cucurella was not the first time that he had been the at the centre of a hair-pulling incident. Spurs defender Cristian Romero escaped a red card for a similar offence in August 2022.

“For me it is too clear in the game, on the pitch. I didn’t see it on the TV, the video. I think it’s very clear, but this is one error of the referee or VAR,” Cucurella said.

“Sometimes the referees have good decisions, sometimes not. This is not my problem. Maybe we need to work harder to not concede this goal in the last minute. I saw [VAR] checking for a red card in the stadium. For me it is clear. In this moment, I don’t know what happened.”