Should Michael Ballack Have Been Red-Carded For His Elbow to Patrice Evra?

(Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

On August 9, English giants Chelsea and Manchester United met in Wembley Stadium in the annual FA Community Shield match.

During the match, both teams had great chances to win the game. In the end the score was deadlocked at 2-2, and for yet another year, the Community Shield went to penalties. Chelsea won 4-1, breaking Manchester United's two year run at winning the annual preseason event.

Despite that, the game will probably be remembered for an event that happened in the 70th minute between Chelsea's Michael Ballack and Man United's Patrice Evra.

During the play, Ballack elbowed Evra, which caused Evra to fall onto the turf as referee Chris Foy let play continue.

Because of the incident, Frank Lampard was able to capitalize on a pass from Didier Drogba and give Chelsea a 2-1 advantage.

After the incident, Evra had to be held back by his Manchester United teammates. Eventually, Evra retaliated causing him to get a Yellow Card on a tackle of Ballack in the 80th minute.

After the match, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson stated that Foy should have given Ballack a Red Card for his elbow to Evra. He also stated that play should have stopped when Evra was on the ground.

Ferguson also stated that Foy said the injury was serious enough that Evra should have received treatment after Chelsea scored their second goal.

So now the question is this to you, the reader: Should Michael Ballack have been given a Red Card for his elbow to Patrice Evra?

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