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Many players go through their whole careers without a referee ever brandishing a red card at them; some have quite the opposite experience. To all of these stars, the colour red will be all too familiar. Each of them, according to Transfermarkt , were given their marching orders at least 10 times from the year 2000 onwards.
Let’s dive in (two-footed) to our run through a selection of the modern game’s most ill-disciplined...
Emre Ever the bulldog in the middle of the park, Turkish legend Emre was no stranger to the sight of a red card. And the final whistle didn’t necessarily mean that the action was over for the former Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Newcastle man: in 2006, he found himself suspended for four games for his part in a mass brawl among players and officials after Turkey’s World Cup play-off against Switzerland. Jermaine Jones Ex-USA international Jermaine Jovnes was sent off on some of football’s biggest stages, including in the 2016 Copa America quarter-finals for shoving Antonio Valencia of Ecuador in the face.
A defensive midfielder who made most of his club appearances for Schalke in Germany, where he was born, Jones once received a two-month ban for stamping on Marco Reus’ injured foot. Pepe One of the finest defenders of the 21 st century, Pepe was also one of the most notoriously uncompromising. Sent off for club and country, his most infamous dismissal came while playing for Real Madrid in 2009, when he was slapped with a 10-match ban for kicking and stamping on Getafe’s Jaiver Casquero.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic A unique character, Zlatan Ibrahimovic amassed more than 500 career goals – and a fair few sendings-off to boot. The prolific Swedish giant, who starred for the likes of Juventus, Barcelona and PSG, got a number of reds for off-the-ball incidents, which included punching, slapping, stamping on and throttling opponents – quite the rap sheet! Ricardo Quaresma Mercurial Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma could be a tricky player; he could also be a tricky character. The trivela -fond Euro 2016 winner, who earned 80 international caps, saw red too often throughout his frustratingly inconsistent career, including for a particularly brainless chop of a tackle from behind while playing for Besiktas.
Philippe Mexes Feisty French defender Philippe Mexes made over 100 appearances for Auxerre, Roma and Milan, also representing his country on 29 occasions. It’s fair to say he could be a bit of a loose cannon – as evidenced by his dismissal for having one Lazio player in a headlock and grabbing another by the throat during a mid-match scrap in 2015. Gonzalo Rodriguez Argentine Centre-back Gonzalo Rodriguez racked up more than his fair share of red cards over the course of an 18-year career which saw him turn out for San Lorenzo, Villarreal and Fiorentina.
Rodriguez was one of three Villarreal players given their marching orders in an ill-tempered Intertoto Cup clash with Maribor in 2006. Matteo Contini Italian defender Matteo Contini turned out for, among other clubs, Parma, Napoli and Real Zaragoza, ultimately retiring from the game in 2018. Evidently not the most disciplined operator on the pitch, during the first 20 years of the 21st century he hit the dubiously impressive mark of 20 red cards.
Gary Medel Never one to mess with, Chilean midfield terrier Gary Medel could certainly get stuck in – sometimes a little too stuck in. His hot streak was on show early in his career: while playing for Chile in the semi-finals of the 2007 U-20 World Cup, Medel had to take an early bath after kicking Argentina’s Gabriel Mercado. Extraordinarily, he claimed that after the game, he was tasered by police as he waited to ‘have a word’ with the referee.
Gerardo Torrado Among the most-capped players in international football, Gerardo Torrado represented Mexico 144 times between 1999 and 2013, appearing at three World Cups. A midfield destroyer who certainly let his opponents know he was there, Torrado received around as many red cards as he scored goals over the course of his career. Fernando Amorebieta The first Venezuelan to play in the Premier League, Fernando Amorebieta arrived at Fulham in 2013 with a chequered disciplinary record – and he saw red in each of his three seasons with the Cottagers.
In the 2009/10 campaign alone, the centre-back was booked 18 times and sent off twice while playing for Athletic Bilbao. Felipe Melo That Felipe Melo earned the nickname ‘Pitbull’ tells you rather a lot about the Brazilian midfielder’s playing style. Passionate to a fault at times, he was infamously dismissed for a vicious stamp on the Netherlands’ Wesley Sneijder as Brazil crashed out of the 2010 World Cup at the quarter-final stage.
Brazil fans weren’t best pleased, greeting Felipe Melo with a torrent of abuse when the team returned home. Rafael Marquez Up there with Mexico’s greatest-ever players, Rafael Marquez captained his nation for many years and played for them at every World Cup from 2002 to 2018, as well as doing the treble with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Marquez’s career was certainly glorious; it was also littered with red cards, one of his most shameful coming for headbutting Cobi Jones of the USA as Mexico exited the 2002 World Cup in the last 16.
Cyril Rool A defender and midfielder who turned out for a string of clubs in his native France between 1993 and 2010, most notably Bastia, Lens and Nice, Cyril Rool accumulated more than 20 career reds. Known for his, er, committed tackling, Rool was sent off six times during the 2006/07 season alone! Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos will go down among the finest defenders ever to play the game; he’ll also be remembered as one of the most poorly disciplined. The World Cup- and Euros-winning Spaniard received 26 red cards across his long association with Real Madrid, including four in his first campaign at the Bernabeu.
Gerardo Bedoya When it comes to red cards, no one comes close to former Colombia midfielder Gerardo Bedoya. The former Deportivo Cali and Millonarios player was sent off an astonishing 46 times throughout his career – and he carried on racking up the reds after hanging up his boots in 2015 and moving into coaching..
