A furious Mikel Arteta appeared to scold Max Dowman after the 16-year-old was sent off in the latter stages of Arsenal’s shock Carabao Cup defeat against Fleetwood Town.The teenage winger was dismissed in the closing stages of the fourth round tie after reacting to a challenge from Harrison Neal.Neal had slid into a challenge on Dowman, with the Arsenal star responding by appearing to try to kick out at the Fleetwood player, sparking a melee.Dowman was shown a straight red card for the act, with Arsenal forced to play out the closing stages with 10-men.As Dowman made his way off the pitch, Arteta was seen walking towards Dowman and appeared to be seen sternly addressing the youngster.Former Arsenal star Paul Merson, speaking on Sky Sports, expressed his concerns over the incident at full-time. Mikel Arteta appeared to scold Max Dowman after his red card in their shock cup defeat to Fleetwood Town Dowman had reacted to a strong challenge from Harrison Neal and appeared to lash out Dowman was shown a straight red card following the incident in the closing stages of the match WHEN YOUNG STARS SEE RED Wayne Rooney – Everton vs Birmingham, December 2002Rooney became the youngest player to be sent off in the Premier League after he saw red in the closing stages of Everton’s Boxing Day clash against Birmingham City.Aged 17 years and 63 days old at the time, Rooney’s aggression got the better of him as he was dismissed 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute.Rooney had miscontrolled the ball and responded with a late challenge on Steve Vickers, catching the defender on his ankle.Everton boss David Moyes suggested Rooney should have been shown a yellow card but Birmingham manager Steve Bruce stated post-match that Vickers had required eight stitches after the incident.Michael Owen – Liverpool vs Man United, April 1998An 18-year-old Owen saw red as Liverpool drew 1-1 with rivals Manchester United in the Premier League.Owen had earlier equalised for Liverpool as the forward cancelled out a Ronny Johnsen opener. The two players were then involved in the incident that saw Owen’s match come to a premature end.The Liverpool star was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Johnsen, who was ultimately forced off on a stretcher.Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson hit out at Owen post-match over a what he labelled a ‘terrible tackle’.Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal vs Wolves, January 2025The Arsenal youngster was controversially shown a straight red card for a foul on Matt Doherty during a 1-0 victory.Lewis-Skelly had caught Doherty on his ankle as the Wolves full back looked to break, with Arteta stating post-match that he was ‘absolutely fuming’ at the decision.Arsenal succeeded in overturning Lewis-Skelly’s three-match ban following an appeal. Lewis-Skelly was sent off for a second time just weeks later.Lionel Messi – Argentina vs Hungary, August 2005Messi’s Argentina debut lasted just 47 seconds as the 18-year-old was sent off moments after coming off the bench in a friendly against Hungary.The Barcelona sensation had barely touched the ball before being pulled back by Hungary’s Vilmos Vanczak.Messi responded by swinging his arm back, hitting Vanczak in the face. Despite protestations from his Argentina team-mates, Messi was sent off for violent conduct by the referee. <!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sport/football/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
‘This didn’t look good to me at all,’ Merson said.’For me, I didn’t like that.’Arteta provided little insight into what he told Dowman, with the Arsenal boss telling the BBC he said ‘Something that we discussed already before the match.’When asked by Sky Sports, Arteta added on the red card: It’s difficult to see on the cameras like that, so I prefer to watch it back properly and then I can assess the situation.’When asked whether Dowman would learn from the incident, Arteta responded: ‘Yeah, we’ll learn from everything.’The straight red card came on a dismal night for Arsenal as the reigning English champions stunningly crashed out of the competition on penalties to their League Two opponents.Arsenal had fallen behind in the first half to Aaron Loupalo-Bi, before Viktor Gyokeres drew Arteta’s side level in the second half.Bruno Guimaraes crucially missed from the spot in the shootout as Fleetwood scored all five of their penalties to remarkably book their place in the quarter-finals.