Most Sending Off in One Game: FIFA World Cup Records and Statistics

The involvement of Portugal and the Netherlands, two nations that aren’t exactly known for being particularly aggressive, perhaps made this even more unexpected.

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After Gonçalo Guedes’ second-half goal against the Netherlands, Portugal won the UEFA Nations League, adding to their UEFA EURO 2016 victory. For the opening 59 minutes, the defences had the upper hand. All three players — Cristiano Ronaldo, Memphis Depay and Bernardo Silva—were dangerous, but as soon as they came up against the impregnable fortifications of Virgil van Dijk and José Fonte, their opponents’ defensive barriers, they stumbled.

The Nations League final, Portugal 1-0 Netherlands, in a nutshell

Large teams playing each other tend to make World Cup matches even more heated than usual, but in a Round of 16 encounter in 2006 (Germany), things completely spiraled out of control. The involvement of Portugal and the Netherlands, two countries that aren’t exactly known for being particularly aggressive, made this situation seem even more unexpected. However, Russian referee Valentin Ivanov was powerless from the start of the match as he was forced to issue a record of four red cards and an extraordinary 16 yellow cards, both of which are records in any FIFA competition.

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All hell broke loose after Portugal’s iconic winger Luis Figo received merely a yellow card for a headbutt, which is an automatic red card under FIFA regulations. It all started when Marco Van Basten received a booking in the second minute. The final score was 1-0 in favour of Portugal. Later, it was reported that Luiz Felipe Scolari had approved of Figo’s headbutt and said, “Jesus Christ may be able to turn the other cheek, but Luis Figo isn’t Jesus Christ!”

Additionally, Russian referee Valentin Ivanov ought to have received a yellow card for his subpar performance throughout the game, according to FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

This was a pretty unique match that wasn’t like the others we had seen before. In the end, there were four red cards and 12 yellow cards. Cristiano Ronaldo had to leave the field following an outrageous foul by Khalid Boulahrouz five minutes into the game, and the referee issued Boulahrouz a yellow card (Mark van Bommel had previously received a booking after just 90 seconds).

A Copa Libertadores game was taking place in a South American football atmosphere. There was zero fair play in that game. Maniche’s goal gave us the final margin of victory, 1-0, and we went through to the World Cup quarterfinals.

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