El Brujo issues apology for red card

A little over 48 hours after Jose Martinez was sent off at the 16th minute for a violent foul against Taty Castellanos, the midfielder is issuing an apology.

Through a tweet, El Brujo wrote in Spanish that his actions in the last game were unfortunate. He also went on to acknowledge his error and apologize to Castellanos and his teammates.

The red card means the Union will be without Martinez in their next league game this Saturday against Chicago. It is still unknown if the league’s Disciplinary Committee will add a fine and add to the one-game suspension.

Martinez was initially given a yellow card when he got tangled up with NYCFC’s Castellanos. However, after video review it was clear as Castellanos was going to the ground, Martinez hit him with an elbow to the face. This action elevated the card from a yellow to a straight red, forcing his teammates to play down a man for 74-plus minutes.

After the game, captain Alejandro Bedoya said that Martinez plays on the border sometimes and he needs to be smarter. He also went on to say, “That’s unacceptable what happened tonight (Saturday).”

Union head coach Jim Curtin said that he was going to have a firm and hard conversation with the defensive midfielder.

Martinez was already suspended from Tuesday night’s Concacaf Champions League game against Atlanta due to yellow card accumulation. At this point, he will not be on the pitch for the Union for at least a week.