Credit: Imago

James Barker

Sun 26 April 2026 18:40, UK

Dominic Calvert-Lewin probably should’ve been sent off for a hair pull on Marc Cucurella in Leeds United‘s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea.

Daniel Farke‘s side were unable to write themselves into Leeds history on Sunday, as they fell short in their challenge of overcoming managerless Chelsea to reach the FA Cup final.

Pascal Struijk was punished for his cheap concession of the ball inside his own half, with Enzo Fernandez heading home on 23 minutes.

Leeds tried to get back on level terms, but it was a game of few chances for the Whites, and when they did arrive, a lack of composure and quality in front of goal ended up costing them.

This Chelsea loss will sting for Leeds, as their bitter rivals weren’t at their best either, and were perhaps there for the taking had Farke’s men been that little bit more ruthless across the pitch.

Why Dominic Calvert-Lewin should’ve been sent off vs Chelsea

Lisandro Martinez was sent off for a hair pull on Calvert-Lewin when Leeds beat Man United at Old Trafford on 13 April, causing widespread outrage among Whites fans, and most football supporters in general.

It was a very soft decision, and most who’ve watched it have come to the agreement that they don’t want to see a player getting sent off for something like that.

What it also did was lower the threshold for a player being shown a red card for similar incidents in the future, and that conversation will no doubt be reignited again after Leeds’ clash with Chelsea on Sunday.

Indeed, it was Calvert-Lewin involved once again, as he appeared to pull the hair of Chelsea defender Cucurella just minutes after the Blues took the lead.

A brief VAR check was conducted to take a closer look at the incident, but no further action was taken against the Leeds striker.

So, you have to say that if the Man United defender was shown his marching orders for his hair pull on Calvert-Lewin at Old Trafford, then surely the Leeds man should’ve received the same punishment at Wembley?

There was very little difference between both incidents, and so if you’re going to give a red card for one, then to not even show a yellow for the other just doesn’t make sense.

PGMOL have hair pull consistency problem now

Let’s have it right though, neither the respective Martinez or Calvert-Lewin incidents at Old Trafford and now Wembley warranted red cards.

Both were ‘fouls’ that if you were able to go back in time to any era of football in this country outside of the last decade or so and tell people that these were being given as red cards, well, that would’ve garnered quite the laugh.

What the PGMOL now has on their hands is a major hair pull consistency problem, similar to the issue we’ve seen with the handball rule for as long as we can all remember: what constitutes ‘violent conduct’ and a red, and what doesn’t?’

It will be fascinating to see what the reaction is like from across the footballing community regarding this latest hair pull controversy, as it’s something that the governing bodies need to get a grip on – pun intended.