September 15, (THEWILL) – Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott has disagreed with the decision of the English Premier League to uphold the red card issued to Leeds United’s Pascal Struijk.
Struijk was red-carded in the Liverpool-Leeds United game after his heavy tackle broke Elliot’s ankle, prompting him to go in for surgery.
As THEWILL reported, the severity of the tackle more than any consideration of malicious intent on the part of Struijk convinced referee Craig Pawson to hand the Leeds defender a straight red card and reduce Marcelo Bielsa’s side to 10-men at the Elland Road fixture.
Leeds appealed the dismissal, but the League has decided to uphold the referee’s decision. This means Struijk will serve a three-game suspension, making him unavailable for the games against Newcastle, Fulham and West Ham.
Meanwhile, Elliott underwent a successful ankle operation on Tuesday. On Wednesday, after hearing of the unsuccessful appeal, Elliott took to his official Instagram account to sympathise with and defend Struijk.
He said, “Sorry about this Pascal, I think it’s wrong! But it’ll soon blow over brother and you’ll be back in no time smashing it again – keep positive.”
The magnanimous Elliott had previously shared an update on his progress with his followers on Instagram with an image of his heavily bandaged leg post-surgery on Tuesday.
His caption read: “Operation was a success! Thank you so much to everyone for your amazing support. The road to recovery starts now. At the end of the storm there’s a golden sky.”
Liverpool’s club doctor, Dr Jim Moxon, said Elliott could return before the end of the season. Moxon said, “We were able to reduce the dislocation immediately on the pitch and Harvey had surgery today to repair the fracture and ligaments damaged in the incident.
“The operation was a success, so his comeback starts now. We won’t put pressure on him by setting a specific timeframe beyond being able to say with confidence we expect him to feature again later in the season following our rehab programme.”
As THEWILL reported, Elliott was stretchered off in the second half of Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Leeds on Sunday and was taken straight to the hospital, while Struijk was sent off immediately.
However, Elliott insists on describing the incident as a “freak accident.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
