Harvey Elliott red card overshadows Valencia defeat

Harvey Elliott's loan spell at Valencia took another hit on Saturday night, when he was sent off in the 89th minute of Valencia vs Villarreal. He had come on in the 69th minute and lasted 19 minutes before two yellow cards in quick succession ended his night in a 2-1 defeat to Villarreal.

Aguirre's anger after the sending-off

Javier Aguirre, speaking to SPORT1 in comments translated from German, called the dismissal "an absurd, ridiculous sending-off" and said, "It's not his fault, it's mine. I will speak to him about it privately. In the end I bear the responsibility because I decide who plays and how we play."

Aguirre also said, "We were in a good position and eleven against ten, but the sending-off changed everything. In the end it became a completely open all-or-nothing game." Pape Gueye had already been shown a red card before Elliott's dismissal, and that was the moment the match went from tense to chaotic.

Elliott's stop-start loan

The numbers around the loan are not flattering. Elliott has six appearances, 152 minutes, and no goal or assist for Valencia, while his season rating sits at 6.05. He has had too little pitch time to settle, and this latest dismissal only adds to the stop-start feel of the move.

Valencia are 19th with six points after 10 league matches, so every dropped point carries extra weight. Villarreal, meanwhile, sit eighth, and Georges Mikautadze's winner in the 96th minute turned Elliott's red card into the incident most people will remember from the night.

Liverpool will be watching closely as well, because this is now a suspension on top of a loan spell that has yet to produce a goal or assist.