Hazard's sending off and five other ridiculous red cards

 

After Eden Hazard's moment of ballboy-booting madness, Christian Crowther recalls five other similarly absurd dismissals from the football archives...

 

The Belgian's red card capped a miserable night for Chelsea as they crashed out of the Capital One Cup, leaving jubilant Swansea as 1.21 favourites for Wembley glory.

 

Here are five other ludicrous sendings off from the past...

 

Paolo Di Canio - September 1998, Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal

One of the only men in Premier League history who could have given Eric Cantona a run for his money in the eccentricity stakes, Di Canio truly lost the plot against reigning champions Arsenal. After grappling wildly with Martin Keown, he then reacted to a red card by shoving over referee Paul Alcock.

 

Steven Taylor - March 2005, Newcastle v Aston Villa

Newcastle were already on the ropes against Villa when a young Taylor was brought on to shore up the defence at 1-0. However, just 20 minutes later he had given away a penalty after clearly handling a goal-bound Darius Vassell effort. Though rather than admit his obvious guilt, the 19-year-old feigned that the ball had struck his chest as he appeared to writhe around in agony, but the ref wasn't fooled.

 

Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer - March 2005, Newcastle v Aston Villa

There must have been something in the air that day at St James' Park as nine minutes after Taylor's dismissal, his teammates Bowyer and Dyer began an ugly altercation. Punches were thrown as the action went on around them, leaving the referee no choice at all besides reusing his red card.

 

Oliver Kahn - March 2001, Hansa Rostock v Bayern Munich

Losing 3-2 at home to unfancied opposition and chasing the German title, Oliver Kahn did what all keepers would do and went up the other end for a last minute-corner. As the ball came in, Kahn rose like a salmon at the back post, before choosing to punch the ball into the net rather than use his noggin.

 

Yoav Viv - October 2011, Stoke v Maccabi Tel Aviv

In this Europa League encounter, the Potters were already cruising at 3-0 when Ryan Shotton got in a tangle with Viv on the touchline. The Maccabi Tel Aviv man lost his boot in the tackle and, when the linesman failed to give a foul in his favour, he angrily kicked the loose boot right at the official. Safe to say, he was sent off.

 

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