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Ten videos of angry reactions to red cards

In honour of Gonzalo Higuaín's meltdown against Udinese.

Gonzalo Higuaín's meltdown is amongst our ten videos of angry reactions to red cards
HISSY FIT: Higuaín (Image: Jan S0L0/Alejandro Ramos)

Here are ten videos of particularly angry reactions to red cards, in honour of Gonzalo Higuaín’s meltdown in response to being sent off for Napoli against Udinese.

The Argentine’s fury seemed to go on and on as team-mates stepped in to drag him away from trouble and off the pitch:

Hero to villain! @sscnapoli top-scorer @G_Higuain reacts with fury after being sent-off against @Udinese_1896. https://t.co/98jDEu5Lk4

— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) April 3, 2016

But Higuaín’s tantrum is just the latest instalment in a recent history that’s littered with angry reactions to red cards:

Paolo Di Canio, Sheffield Wednesday

Famously pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground in a 1998 match against Arsenal, incurring an 11-match ban for his troubles:

Eric Cantona, Manchester United

You might have seen this 1995 flying kick on a Crystal Palace fan moments after the mercurial Frenchman had received his marching orders:

Salih Dursun, Trabzonspor

Angered by a sending off to team-mate Luis Pedro Cavanda, Dursun grabbed the referee’s red card and uses it against him.

Unsurprisingly, he got sent off as well:

Trabzonspor's Salih Dursun stole the ref's red card, sent him off & then got sent off himself pic.twitter.com/Md72d0X2QB

— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) February 21, 2016

Jacobo, Panathinaikos

The Greek side’s goalkeeper was already ranting and raving prior to being shown the red card, not that we can tell you why.

Suffice it to say, the red mist descended still further once he’d literally seen red:

Alhaji Kamara, Norrköping

As angry reactions go, running full pelt down the tunnel screaming like a madman is certainly a novel one:

André Luis, Botafogo

Playing in the Copa Sudamericana against Estudiantes, Luís responded to being shown a second yellow by whipping the card out of the ref’s hand and screaming in his face.

A well-deserved six-match suspension ensued:

Luis’s rap sheet also includes head-butting a referee, kicking a bottle of Gatorade at opposition supporters and barricading himself in a dressing room while awaiting arrest.

Zequinha, Portgual U20

Another who snatched the ref’s card after it had been shown to a team-mate, only to be shown it himself.

Yes, that is Fábio Coentrão amongst those crowding the ref – he and Zequinha were representing Portugal at the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup in Canada:

Player kicks referee in Italian lower league match

Kicks him really quite hard when his back’s turned, no less, only for the ref to turn around and stare him down:

Player kicks opponent in the head

Just after getting sent off for scything him down. A despicable act, and not one for the squeamish: