Premier League defender headbutted as MLS star sees red in ugly incident

Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido saw red after headbutting FC Cincinnati defender Yerson Mosquera during a thrilling 3-3 draw in the Leagues Cup. The 20-cap Mexico international received a straight red card after the incident involving Mosquera, who is on a year-long loan from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pulido, 32, was trying to regain possession from the opposition defender during play after giving the ball away with a miscued backheel. In attempting to make amends, he was guilty of felling Mosquera.

The referee Daniel Quintero Huitron then whistled for a foul. After not taking too kindly to Pulido falling on top of him, the defender gave him a shove to remove his body off his legs while prone.

The Sporting striker steadied himself on his knees after momentarily losing balance after the push. Pulido then launched his head into the face of Mosquera, who was briefly kneeling before being knocked back to the ground.

Mosquera immediately grabbed his face with both hands before rolling over multiple times in pain. After witnessing the incident, referee Huitron rushed over and reached into his back pocket for a red card.

He pointed to Pulido before brandishing the card. Luciano Acosta got in his opponent’s face during the afters while Joey Akpunonu pushed Sporting players away from surrounding Mosquera.

Several other players from either side, including substitutes, became involved as plenty of pushing ensued. At one stage, Gadi Kinda shoved Akpunonu, who then tripped over the stricken Mosquera.

All four referees were quickly on the scene to de-escalate the situation. As tensions eased, medical assistance came on to treat the Cincinnati defender.

Pulido eventually returned to his feet and briefly pleaded with the referee. The striker waited for Mosquera to get up and shook his hand as they embrace each other before the sent-off star finally departed

At the time of the incident, just short of the 30-minute mark, Sporting were leading 2-0 after a pair of early goals on the road. A Nick Hagglund own goal opened the scoring after nine minutes before Daniel Rosero doubled the lead in the 12th minute.

Then, mere minutes following Pulido exiting, Cincinnati got back in the game by benefiting from an own goal in their favor off of John Pulskamp.

Brandon Vasquez then equalized in the second half before Kinda converted a penalty as SKC retook the lead. With the ten men looking like they had escaped with all three points, Cincinnati won a penalty in added time that Acosta scored to take the game to a shootout.

The club captain again stepped up to strike while Vazquez, Yuya Kubo and Matt Miazga also made no mistake from the spot. Conversely, despite Erik Thommy and Khiry Shelton doing their jobs, Remi Walter and Andreu Fontas did not, and the hosts prevailed 4-2 in the shootout to seal the extra point.