Western Sydney head coach Marko Rudan has defended the actions of his captain Marcelo after the Brazilian earned his second red card in three games in his side’s 3-2 loss to Adelaide United on Friday night.
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The late mayhem was initially sparked by a shove from Nestory Irankunda on Wanderers midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof, who had prevented the Reds forward from driving down the wing on an Adelaide fast-break. Then, as players from both sides convened, Marcelo locked his arm around the neck of Irankunda.
Adelaide centre-back Lachlan Barr rushed to Irankunda’s aid, and Marcelo repeated the action on Barr, pulling the Reds defender in close with his arm firmly wrapped around his neck.
Amongst the scrap, Marcelo also reached out to make contact with the back of Ben Halloran’s head, before finally grabbing Javi Lopez in a similar vice.
The repeat actions saw referee Shaun Evans send Marcelo to the sheds.
“All of a sudden, he comes out of the blue and grabs (Irankunda) in a headlock,” said Daniel McBreen, analysing the incident post-match for Paramount+
“What’s he doing? Honestly, what is he doing?
“And of course, the Adelaide players are going to come in. Big Lachie Barr wants to come in and look after his teammates – and there’s another headlock.”
“Totally unnecessary isn’t it?” Said fellow Paramount+ analyst Grace Gill.
“There was no need for this to happen,” McBreen replied, “and this actually just played into Adelaide’s hands. Western Sydney were coming, they were pressing, they were trying to get the equaliser and this just changed the entire complexion (of the game).”
But Rudan had a different view of the incident. In an extraordinary post-match interview, the Wanderers boss defended his captain whilst questioning why Adelaide defender Barr did not receive marching orders of his own for his role in the tussle.
“I don’t think it was as bad as people are making it out to be,” Rudan said.
“You have to understand, first of all, Marcelo the person. Marcelo the person grew up in the favelas defending himself from a young age.
“What he does – and he’s done that from day one – when there’s a bit of a melee, he puts his hand around someone to make sure no one else gets involved. It might look aggressive but he hasn’t been pulled up on it so far this season.
“Maybe he shouldn’t have done what he did to young Irankunda, I think he got involved there, but I think you need to learn from that a little bit – but I don’t think it was as bad as eveyrone’s making it out to be.”
Watch the Incident, and Rudan’s reaction, below
Rudan continued: “Lachlan Barr runs 40 metres to get involved in the melee, and yet it was only a yellow card. So I’m thinking if Marcelo is going to defend himself when he sees someone running at him, like any human being would do, you’re going to defend yourself. And that was only a yellow card.
“I don’t know why that wasn’t looked at differently, because he instigated something as well by running so quickly from so far distance.
“But in terms of our player, our player got the red card. It’s nothing I haven’t briefed the referees on We have different personalities in this competition, you dont want to take those personalities away.
“Look at someone like Jason Cummings: I love the guy just by watching him on the sidelines. I love the way he goes about the game, the way he goes about living his life as well. You don’t want to take that away from someone.
“Everyone’s different in the way they are… Marcelo is different. He’s done really well, and the people that lose out are not just us. I thought he was fantastic tonight, and we don’t get to watch him next week, unfortunately.”
McBreen responded to Rudan’s summation of Marcelo’s actions with scepticism.
“I’ve got to disagree totally with Marko Rudan there,” McBreen said.
“We have seen this year, he did say that Marcelo does grab players by the head. We’ve seen it many times this year: he grabs them by the back of the neck and pulls them in tight when they’re trying to get away and holds them there.
“But tonight, he went over the top and put his arm right around and locked them in. He did that to three players.
“I don’t care where you’re from (or) how different you are. We know he’s a wonderful footballer, and he does seem to be a wonderful person, but you can’t run around putting players in headlocks.”
