The FA have charged Rafael da Silva for his reaction to the second yellow card Mike Dean showed him in our 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
This was the third time we’ve seen such an explosive reaction from our little Brazilian. The first game from the bench after United went 2-1 up against Spurs last season. He had been at fault for their equalising goal and a minute after he was taken off, Nani put United back ahead. He was wild in celebrationg. The second occasions was during the derby when he squared up to the Argie troll and got in his face, showing the more vocal side to our terrier of a defender.
After the game on Sunday, even Spurs manager Harry Redknapp conceded it was a poor decision.
“He was just running and he has clipped Benoît’s heels,” he said. “He has not broken his stride and stuck a leg out, saying ‘I’ll trip him’. He was trying to get out of the way.”
But that doesn’t excuse Rafael’s overreaction. This was the second time in a year that Dean had wrongly punished Rafael, the first coming in the League Cup semi-final when he awarded a penalty against United for a foul from Rafael on Craig Bellamy which took place outside of the area. Regardless, if you get in a referee’s face and scream “WHY?” at him, you’re likely to be punished, if you’re a little foreign boy and not Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard or John Terry. In fact, I’m pretty sure Rooney said much worse to Dean and was already on a yellow.
But what happens to referee Mike Dean now? The only reason why Rafael reacted was because Dean made a dreadful decision which could have cost United the game. Is there any punishment for him? Or will we see him back in action in the Premiership next weekend?
