Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was shown a somewhat overdue first red card of his career in midweek, after a clash with FC Lugano’s Renato Steffen.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain left English football for the first time over the summer, joining Besiktas on a free transfer from Liverpool.
The move appears to have been a beneficial one for the former Arsenal man, who has already made 21 appearances for his new club, scoring four goals (including two in his last two league games).
But the England international had a much less impressive moment in Besiktas’ Europa Conference League clash with FC Lugano on Thursday, receiving a straight red card.
Oxlade-Chamberlain pressed Renato Steffen and won the ball off the Lugano man, but Steffen didn’t appreciate the physicality of the challenge and grabbed at his opponent to try and bring him down.
As the former Gunner fell to the floor, he kicked out at Steffen, dragged him down with a rugby tackle. Both teams then descended on the duo for a scrap.
The referee showed no mercy to either player, swiftly showing them both red cards. You can watch the incident here from the timestamp 1:20.
Some people correctly pointed out that this is the first red card of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career, but Arsenal fans know that it shouldn’t have been.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was fortunate not to receive a red card or a suspension after his deliberate handball denied Chelsea a goal back in 2013/14, with Kieran Gibbs mistakenly sent off instead.
That red card was later rescinded, but Oxlade-Chamberlain escaped without punishment, and the red card remains part of Gibbs’ stats on the Premier League website to this day.
So Oxlade-Chamberlain was probably overdue for a red card of his own.