History-making A-Leagues teen learns fate after red card

Football Australia’s Independent Match Review Panel (MRP) confirmed Western United defender Dylan Leonard will miss Sunday’s Isuzu UTE A-League showdown against rivals Melbourne Victory.

Leonard will serve a one-match ban following his red card in Western’s 3-1 Unite Round win over Perth Glory in Sydney on Friday night.

The history-making 17-year-old was sent off in the closing stages of the Round 5 fixtures after dragging down Glory winger Cristian Caideo as he looked to receive possession in the final third for Perth, having become Western’s youngest ever Isuzu UTE A-League goalscorer earlier in the contest.

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The MRP determined Leonard committed the offence of “Denying the opposing team an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, as prescribed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game” (Offence), with the minimum sanction for the offence being a one-match suspension.

Leonard – who is eligible to return to face Macarthur Bulls in Round 7 on December 7 – became the youngest player in Isuzu UTE A-League history to both score and receive a red card in a topsy-turvy outing for the teenager.

Already Western’s youngest debutant, Leonard equalised for the club before Hiroshi Ibusuki’s double guided John Aloisi’s men to their maiden win of the campaign.

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Then, he was shown a straight red card at the death, creating a ridiculous piece of A-Leagues history.

At 17 years and 192 days, he surpassed Apostolos Stamatelopoulos (Adelaide United, 19 years, 363 days) as the youngest player to score and be sent off in an Isuzu UTE A-League fixture.