(Video): ESPN pundits say “irresponsible” Chelsea star can have “no argument” about red | OneFootball

Nicolas Jackson got a red card for an arm to the face and neck of Sven Botman today, and while some fans have been overly critical of a misjudged moment from the Senegal star, others have been far too generous in trying to convince themselves it was anything other than a red.

On ESPN, Luis Miguel Echegaray and Janusz Michallik had their say on the incident.

ESPN pundits aligned on Jackson red

Nicolas Jackson reacts to his shocking red. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“The issue here is excessive force, and unfortunately Nicolas Jackson’s elbow hit Botman’s jaw… yes you can call it harsh, you can have a difference of opinion, but the letter of the law says excessive force, and the moment you put an elbow into someone’s jaw it’s a red card,” Echegaray said.

Michalik agreed – and in fact went even further:

“I truly don’t understand how you could even start to see this as anything other than a red card. Straight up, no argument.”

You can see them discussing the incident in the clip embedded here:

Pundits united on Jackson “irresponsible” red

We can (mostly) agree it was a red – the question is how much blame Jackson for blowing the game and potentially even blowing our Champions League chances.

“You have to, you absolutely have to look towards Nicolas Jackson, I hate to say it, but such an irresponsible thing to do,”Michallik said.

It was just such a mad moment – the best case scenario was winning a flick on in the middle of the pitch. Why put the whole course of the game at risk for that?

We can still claw ourselves back up there with wins in our final 2 games – but Jackson won’t be there to help us. He will have to wait until next season to make amends.