10 Craziest World Cup Red Cards

Frank Rijkaard was a fantastic footballer but, during the 1990 World Cup, we saw a nasty side to the Dutchman. The incident occurred during a knockout game between West Germany and The Netherlands. For one reason or another, Rijkaard had decided that he didn’t like German striker Rudi Völler.

Cameras captured Rijkaard spitting into Völler’s hair shortly after the Dutchman had been given a yellow card. Völler tried to tell the ref what had happened but he was issued with a yellow too. Shortly afterwards, the pair started arguing again, with Rijkaard stamping on Völler’s foot. The referee decided to send them both off.

While the players were making their way off the field, Rijkaard was again filmed spitting at Völler. The whole thing was pretty unfair on the German, who hadn’t done much wrong, but Rijkaard could have seen red much earlier on had the referee spotted his expectoration.