While Aston Villa fans cursed and wondered what on Earth Marco Bizot was doing against Newcastle United, others were far less surprised.
Analyst René van der Gijp was one of those. And he’s moved to defend the Aston Villa goalkeeper today in comments relayed by Voetbal Primeur.
Bizot received a red card against Newcastle United during the 3–1 FA Cup defeat on Valentine’s Day. The referee showed the 34‑year‑old a straight red in first‑half stoppage time for a moment that will likely haunt him for some time.
A moment of madness
He went charging 40 yards from his goal before bringing down Jacob Murphy in a reckless challenge near the halfway line.
Aston Villa were leading 1-0 at the time thanks to Tammy Abraham’s opener and looked destined to progress.
Instead, the sending off flipped the game on its head. Aston Villa went on to concede there goals in the second half, resulting in their elimination in the Fourth Round.
Bizot will now serve a domestic suspension and miss Villa’s upcoming Premier League game against Leeds United as a result.
“Goalkeepers do strange things”
He has already apologised publicly via social media. He labelled the incident as a “moment of madness” and expressed regret.
Unai Emery later defender his number two. He labelled the goalkeeper as “fantastic” and insisted he’d learn from the experience.
Now Van der Gijp has moved to defend him to. According to him, such incidents are just in a goalkeeper’s make up.
“Those are goalkeepers, Wilfred, you were one yourself,” he said to host Wilfred Genee. “I was never surprised by that, you know.
“You’ve seen them too, Johan (Derksen). I never thought it was strange when a goalkeeper did something like that. It’s in their nature. Goalkeepers always do strange things. It’s in their nature.”