Cristiano Ronaldo Escapes Red Card After Booting Newcastle United's Ryan Fraser During Man Utd's 1-1 Draw

The debate around the superstar bias in Premier League football found more traction when Cristiano Ronaldo luckily escaped a red card after he flew into a challenge with Newcastle United’s Ryan Fraser. Referee Craig Pawson made a crucial judgement when he only gave Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo a yellow card for a red card tackle ten minutes into the second half.

Many people took to social media to express that the 36-year-old ‘s superstar status helped him, while others criticised the VAR for not interfering. Ronaldo’s emotions looked to have gotten the best of him at the time, as he was visibly frustrated with his and his team’s poor performance in the game.

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The challenge was inextricably linked to Andy Robertson’s tackle on Emerson Royal last week, which caused Paul Tierney to give him a red card. Some also recalled that Harry Kane was also lucky not to see red following his own challenge against Robertson in another game. One user on Twitter wrote: “The superstar bias in the premier league is appalling. Ronaldo shoulda been sent off against Liverpool for his lashing out at Curtis Jones, shoulda been sent of against Newcastle for a swing at Fraser. Harry Kane shoulda been sent of against Liverpool for his tackle on Robertson.”

Another wrote, “Ronaldo’s challenge on Fraser there is no different to Robertson against spurs, one is a red after Var intervenes , the other stays a yellow (which for me was correct on both ) but it shows the incredible inconsistency with @premierleague officials still.”

In the seventh minute, Allan Saint-Maximin put Newcastle ahead, but Edinson Cavani levelled the scores with a classic poacher-like strike from inside the box. Eddie Howe’s side is now 19th in the table with 11 points after the draw, with only one win so far this season. Man United, on the other hand, is still in seventh place with 28 points.