Wolves midfielder Mario Lemina broke his silence yesterday evening on social media, after getting a red card against Southampton.
The 29-year-old was dismissed just before the half-hour mark by referee Jarred Gillett, who gave a second yellow card for apparent dissent.
Lemina was already on a yellow, after fouling Carlos Alcaraz inside 10 minutes – a decision that was harsh.
Gillett decided to give Lemina his marching orders when Lemina jogged over to him to remonstrate.
Apparently, Lemina running aggressively towards the official resulted in the second booking.
But Gillett had his back to Lemina and could not see the way in which he ran. There were also two other Wolves players with him before Lemina came over.
The decision infuriated Wolves, and Ruben Neves argued further with Gillett after he blew the half-time whistle.
But thankfully, the situation did not cost Wolves on the day.
Julen Lopetegui’s side came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at St. Mary’s Stadium, with Joao Gomes striking a late winner in his debut.
The Brazilian scored from the edge of the box, after Jan Bednarek’s own goal cancelled out Alcaraz’s opener.
It was a huge win for Wolves, especially given Southampton took the lead and it was 11 vs 10.
After the game, Lemina took to social media to comment after he was sent off in the game.
The star said: “Proud of you, Wolves.
“It’s not about how you start, but how you finish.”
Mario Lemina red card situation was frustrating, but Wolves got the job done
Thankfully Wolves were able to get the win, meaning the Lemina incident becomes slightly less significant.
It was a massive win for Wolves, who showed fantastic character.
Lemina will be a big loss – that performance against Liverpool really showed how good a player he is. His tenacity and combativeness will be missed.
But Lopetegui has lots of other options at his disposal.
Young Gomes might well be in with a chance of starting the next game against Bournemouth after his heroics. That would certainly be something many Wanderers fans would love to see.