Why did Ecuadorian forward Michael Estrada leave Cruz Azul vs Club América in tears?

A moment of considerable controversy in Saturday’s Liga MX clash between Cruz Azul and Club América at Estadio Azteca. With the match tied at 1-1 and half-time imminent, La Máquina’s Ecuadorian forward Michael Estrada caught the back of Águilas midfielder Álvaro Fidalgo’s heel with his studs as they tussled for possession in the middle of the park.

VAR intervenes to send off Estrada

Referee Fernando Guerrero initially gave a free-kick to the visitors before VAR intervened, highlighting a possible red card offence. After reviewing the incident pitchside, Guerrero deemed that the incident was indeed worthy of a sending off and Estrada’s evening was over just seconds before the half-time whistle.

Up until that moment, there had been nothing to separate the sides, with Uriel Antuna opening the scoring for the ‘hosts’ in the 11th minute after capitalising on a mistake by the aforementioned Fidalgo. América bounced back, however, as Alejandro Zendejas levelled things up minutes before Estrada’s red card and the half-time interval, rounding off a fine team move with a powerful left-footed strike.

Estrada leaves the field in tears

Hugely frustrated with the referee’s decision, and possibly even himself, Estrada left the field in tears as tempers flares on either side, forcing Cruz Azul boss Ricardo Ferretti to step in to clam things down. The Ecuadorian knew he had left his teammates facing an uphill battle in the second half and so it proved, as, within no more than a couple of minutes of the restart, Zendejas ran onto Henry Martín’s through-ball and calmly slotted past Jesús Corona to put América in control with his second goal of the game.

Zendejas and Martín ensure another América victory

With a man advantage, the ‘visitors’ were able to keep their opponents at arm’s length for the remainder of the contest and ensured they would be taking home all three points just after the hour-mark. Martín latched onto a pass inside the penalty box and his fierce effort found the net via the inside of the post.

Would the outcome have been different if Estrada had stayed on the field? We’ll never know.