Why Lisandro Martinez was sent off in Chelsea v Manchester United in the 2026-27 Premier League

Lisandro Martinez was sent off during Manchester United's 2026-27 Premier League match at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. The dismissal followed an incident that resulted in a penalty for the home side.

Manchester United’s already challenging afternoon at Stamford Bridge became a nightmare thanks to Lisandro Martinez. The Red Devils’ woeful start to the season continued after conceding two goals against the Blues. Their night worsened when the centre-back Martinez was given marching orders by the referee.

Morgan Rogers opened the scoring in the 50th minute by chipping custodian Senne Lammens after receiving a feed from Romeo Lavia and sprinting past Harry Maguire.

Martinez had been shown a yellow card earlier for grabbing Morgan Rogers’ shirt. Shortly after, during a corner, he lunged at Wesley Fofana and punched the Chelsea defender in the face with a raised elbow.

Following a video review (VAR), the referee showed Martinez a second yellow card in the 63rd minute and sent him off, and the official also awarded a penalty to Chelsea.

Cole Palmer stepped up and comfortably converted the penalty to make it 2-0. Martinez thought he had the ball in his own box, but his late lunge onto Fofana saw him get booked and sent off, reducing Manchester United to 10 men just thirteen minutes after the first goal; the visitors, who had already given up earlier in the second half, found the situation especially agonising.

The red card and the 2-0 scoreline further affected Carrick’s tenure at the club.