Football is a very emotional game and most times the players go out of their minds and commit fouls that harm others on the field of play.
In this process, they are booked with a yellow or red card.
Even the most gentle and cool tempered players occasionally do go off, becomes moody, act with some rash impulse and the excessive flow of adrenaline,
Only for them to later regret their actions after being sent off.
With all these in view, it is extremely difficult to encounter a football player that has never been booked(even a yellow card) in their entire playing career.
Think of cool headed players like Lionel Messi; he has been shown the yellow card in quite a number of matches (especially the El clasico) because Sergio Ramos knows how to infuriate him,
Messi have even received two red cards in his entire career; one on his debut for Argentina national team and the other recently in C opa America 2019 in third place match against Chile.
Diego Armando “the god” Maradona isn’t exempted from the list of booked footballer’s.
Notable booked players are Sergio Ramos with double figures for both yellow and red cards (hes now the most cautioned player in UCL history)
And Zinedine Zidane also had his fare share in bookings; infact he ended his glorious football career with a red card..since he wouldn’t be playing anymore, he had to do 80 hours community work to pay for that.
Players without yellow cards (let alone red):
It’s not easy to play without getting booked in ones career.
Though only 5 players made it to the list of players without being booked; but one of them stood out among the rest…
The fine English and Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Gary Linekar.
With a total 16 years playing career, Gary was able to score 330 goals in 567 matches for club and country, and he was never booked.
Linekar was a darling in and out of the pitch and we wonder if he ever got annoyed by his opponents.
But it’s a record that’s worth celebrating with a sports that’s filled with anger, rage and emotions that’s spilled out continually.
It will take a long time before we see another player go 10–20 years without being booked.
Source: Ekemezie Okechukwu@
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