It was a busy night of Champions League action last night, with eight teams in action as the last 16 line-up was confirmed.
Borussia Dortmund were knocked out at Atalanta following a 90th-minute penalty, Real Madrid beat Benfica, PSG edged past 10-man Monaco and Juventus were dumped out in extra time by Galatasaray.
Juve’s exit was perhaps the big talking point, and a former Newcastle defender was at the heart of the controversy.
That man was Lloyd Kelly: the Eddie Howe signing who arrived on a free from Bournemouth in 2024, only to leave for Italy within six months of his arrival.
The versatile defenders has been impressing at Juventus after an iffy start, becoming a regular in their back line, and he was involved in one of the most bizarre and baffling red card incidents we’ve seen last night.
Despite accidentally landing on Galatasaray’s Baris Alper Yilmaz (watch below), Kelly’s harsh second yellow card was somehow upgraded to a straight red, seeing Juventus reduced to 10 men in a game they’d go on to lose in added time, dumping them out.
He was FUMING! 🤬
Lloyd Kelly could not believe the decision to send him off v Galatasaray. ❌
Who was right? pic.twitter.com/PpoUP12ims
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 25, 2026
As the clip above shows, Kelly was understandably fuming with the decision, kicking the hoardings as he was sent off and angrily shouting the words “disgrace!” as he looked visibly baffled by the decision.
UEFA officials may be working off slightly different parameters to what we see in the Premier League, but that’s a ridiculous call at any level.
As we saw at PSG a few seasons ago, Man City last weekend and in our FA Cup win at Aston Villa, the standard of refereeing is at an all-time low, it seems.
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