On the weekend, a footballer in Spain received a shock sending-off following a goal celebration in which he paid tribute to a club chief who recently died.
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Villarreal's Alex Baena was shown a second yellow card during his side's 2-1 win over Almeria in LaLiga after he lifted up his match shirt to unveil a special message for deceased vice-president, Jose Manuel Llaneza.
Llaneza passed away last week following a battle with leukaemia after he served the Yellow Submarine for almost three decades, with a statement from the club reading: "The club wishes to manifest its profound and immense pain, sadness and dismay for the irreparable loss and our most sincere love and care to his family and relatives."
After scoring with a header, 21-year-old Baena unveiled his touching tribute to the legendary club figure, with a message that read "Gracias por todo, Llaneza", which translates to "thanks for everything, Llaneza".
Alex Baena scored a goal and was then given a second yellow and a red for his celebration ?? ?? ?He was paying tribute to Villarreal's vice president, who passed away last week.Chaos reigned and Villarreal were incensed.#LaLiga #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/6JuBJnthYr
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) October 24, 2022
Referee Ricardo De Burgos responded by showing the Spain U21 international a second yellow for his actions despite the player not removing his shirt entirely from his body during the celebration.
Baena and has teammates were aggrieved by the match official's decision to send him off, sparking intense arguments on the pitch and touchline that eventually led to Villarreal midfielder Manu Morlanes receiving a straight red card from the substitutes bench.
Although they went down to 10 men with more than 30 minutes remaining, Villarreal found the winner with a dramatic stoppage-time goal from Nicolas Jackson, with Dani Parejo registering both assists.
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