‘That would be a red card’ - Ricardo Pereira escapes with no VAR in Leicester City win vs Birmingham City
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Credit: Sky Sports Main Event
Harri Burton
Fri 29 August 2025 22:24, UK
Ricardo Pereira was lucky to remain on the pitch as Leicester City beat Birmingham City at the King Power Stadium.
Abdul Fatawu, who remains linked with a Leicester exit, opened the scoring with a sensational effort after just eight minutes, capitalising on slack defending from the visitors on Friday, 29 August.
Chris Davies’ side, fresh from League One, pushed for an equaliser away from home, with Kyogo Furuhashi coming the closest, but it was Pereira who finished the game off for the Foxes in the closing stages.
It was a rather contentious moment, however, with the goalscoring right-back picking up a yellow card 12 minutes before hitting the back of the net for a challenge on Furuhashi.
Going over the ball, the Portuguese star appeared to catch the Birmingham attacker very high on the leg, leaving him in agony as referee Joshua Smith pointed to a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Re-analysing the incident live on Sky Sports Main Event (29 August, 9:38pm), Don Goodman said: “He can’t believe it, Pereira.
That would be a red card.”
The 31-year-old went on to seal all three points for the home side, sweeping home at the back post following a brilliant cross from 16-year-old Jeremy Monga, who had been on the pitch just 17 minutes.
Football Insider verdict
Marti Cifuentes’ side will be eyeing promotion straight back to the Premier League, having been relegated last season, and it has been a positive start to the 2025/26 campaign for the Foxes.
Despite an early defeat to Preston North End, Leicester have bounced back with wins over Charlton Athletic and, now, Birmingham, to rise to third in the Championship table before the weekend’s fixtures.
Losing a goal threat in Jamie Vardy, who could join Celtic, was a major blow for the club over the summer, but Cifuentes appears to have found several new forward-thinkers to push the team to promotion.
Credit: Imago
Of course, many will want to avoid situations such as the one Pereira put himself in, as with Leicester down to 10 men, the Blues may have found a late equaliser at the King Power.
If the current squad stays together before the 1 September deadline, many supporters will feel that automatic promotion should be the main goal this season, not just play-off spots.
The King Power was left bouncing on Friday night, with Pereira putting the golden touch on proceedings, but it could have been very different had the referee spotted an early infringement properly.