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The reason Benteke was sent off after full time

The reason Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke was sent off after the full time whistle has been revealed having initially left fans puzzled.

It came following a vital win for hosts Aston Villa in their relegation battle, which has left them four points from safety, that spot, occupied by Watford.

Having conceded a double from Trezeguet, things got worse the Eagles after the the game as Benteke was shown a straight red card for dissent towards referee Martin Atkinson.

Palace could have got themselves in front, when Mamadou Sakho thought he had put his side ahead when the ball appeared to strike the defender’s shoulder on its way into the net. It ended up being ruled out for handball after yet another lengthy delay.

Villa then followed them up by taking the lead prior to half-time when the Egypt winger side-footed the ball and across the line.

Not long after the restart, Villa were given a penalty by referee Martin Atkinson after Patrick van Aanholt’s challenge on Jack Grealish, however that decision was overturned after the VAR check.

Dean Smith’s side confirmed their first Premier League victory since the 21st of January thanks to a second goal from Trezeguet, who toe-poked the ball to give the West Midlands side any hope of staying up.

They have three matches remaining to play out, they are against Everton (away), Arsenal (home) and West Ham (away).

Player ratings

Aston Villa: Reina (6), Elmohamady (7), Konsa (7), Mings (7), Taylor (5), Hourihane (7), McGinn (6), Luiz (7), Trezeguet (8), Grealish (7), Samatta (6)

Subs: Targett (6), Nakamba (NA), Davis (NA), El-Ghazi (NA)

Crystal Palace: Guaita (7), Ward (5), Dann (5), Sakho (5), Van Aanholt (6), Kouyate (5), Milivojevic (5), McArthur (5), Zaha (5), Benteke (4), Ayew (5)

Subs: McCarthy (5), Townsend (5), Riedewald (5), Meyer (5)

Man of the match: Trezeguet

Dean Smith on Palace: “They started the better, the last 10 minutes of the half they played their best.”

“I thought the linesman got away with the first one. In the letter of the law, we’ve seen how harsh it is, but I thought it was a poor free kick to give away. The second one I thought Jack went down too easy.” #AVFC Dean Smith on the two VAR decisions.

“It was a tough game against Crystal Palace today who are organised and have experienced players but I thought we were the better team today.”

He added: “It’s felt a while since I had a big smile! It’s really big. It’s the first leg of a semi-final, and we’ve managed to win that, and we’ve got a second leg at Everton. It was a good performance and I think we deserved it today; we were worthy winners.

“It was a more attacking line-up today; we felt we’d have a lot more of the ball than we have against Liverpool and Man Utd, and it paid dividends.

“It gives everybody a big lift. Our performance since lockdown has been really good, that’s our second clean sheet, defensively we’ve been better, and now we’ve scored some goals, which we needed to do, and created some chances.”

 
 
 
 
 
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Following the final whistle, Christian Benteke, who was up against his former club, was handed a red card.

The referee was quick to send him his marching order after spotting an off-the-ball incident with Ezri Konsa.

There was a coming together of players, and then he was sent off as the situation calmed down.

Referee Atkinson stayed out on the pitch, with all the players heading down the tunnel, seemingly waiting for a VAR review… however there was no word on the decision.

Journalist Matt Maher tweeted his confusion, stating: “Uncertain whether Benteke was actually sent-off for kicking out at Konsa, or for foul and abusive language toward the referee.”

The result means that Palace have now lost their past five league games.

Palace boss Roy Hodgson: “We put ourselves on the back foot going into half time. When the second goal went in we gave ourselves a mountain to climb, and quite frankly I never thought we looked like climbing that mountain today.

On Benteke’s red card: “It’s inexcusable, basically, that’s the bottom line. There was a lot of niggling going on on the field, we’re close enough to be aware of that, but the thing is that is part and parcel of the game we play, it is quite often present in a lot of football matches.

“And you must not allow it to provoke you into doing something that is going to stop you playing for the rest of the season. Christian Benteke just came back into the team, is playing his fifth or sixth game in a row, which of course he wasn’t doing before football was halted, and it was a great opportunity for him to finish the season by getting these games under his belt, and now he’s going to miss them.

“He’s unhappy about that, of course, as we are, but unfortunately I can’t excuse it, no matter how provoked he may have been, no matter what might have been said. You know that when you kick out at an opponent, and the referee sees it, you get sent off. That has been happening in football for as long as I can remember. All Christian can do, I guess, is apologise to his team-mates and accept his punishment.”

Prior to the game Wilfried Zaha revealed racist posts sent by an Instagram user. West Midlands Police We were alerted to a series of racist messages sent to a footballer today and after looking into them and conducting checks, we have arrested a boy. The 12-year-old from Solihull has been taken to custody. Thanks to everyone who raised it. Racism won’t be tolerated.”

Speaking to Sky Sports, Hodgson said on the matter: “It’s been highlighted at the moment anyway with the Black Lives Matter movement and everyone seems to be making such an effort to eradicate this behaviour.

“It is very sad that on the day of a game, a player wakes up to this cowardly and despicable abuse. It’s right Wilf has made people aware of it and I don’t think this is something you should keep quiet about.

“Our club, Aston Villa and the Premier League are doing everything they can to find out who this despicable individual is, and one can only hope he will get identified and called to account.

“He wants to put off one of our best players from playing well today, but to do it in the way he has chosen is totally inexcusable.”

The Premier League said: “This behaviour is completely unacceptable and the Premier League stands alongside Wilfried Zaha in opposing this, and discrimination in any form.

“We will continue to support players, managers, coaches and their family members who receive serious discriminatory online abuse.”

Fans gave their reaction after the reason Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke was sent off after the full time whistle was revealed having initially left fans puzzled…

Jack Grealish was also mocked for falling so dramatically earlier in the game…

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