Elliott's Valencia nightmare deepens as manager brands red card 'absurd' in Villarreal defeat

Harvey Elliott’s troubled loan spell at Valencia hit a new low on Saturday when the Liverpool midfielder was sent off for dissent in the closing stages of a 2-1 La Liga defeat to Villarreal at the Mestalla, prompting a furious public rebuke from manager Javier Aguirre.

Elliott, 23, had only entered the game as a 69th-minute substitute when he collected two rapid yellow cards in the 89th minute — the second for words directed at the referee — reducing Valencia to ten men moments after Villarreal had already been reduced to the same. Georges Mikautadze punished the chaos in the 96th minute to seal all three points for the visitors.

Aguirre did not spare Elliott in his post-match press conference. “It’s an absurd, ridiculous sending-off,” the former Mexico head coach said. “I don’t know what he could have said to the referee — he barely speaks Spanish, so getting sent off for something he said just makes me angry. It’s a ridiculous dismissal, and I told him as much. It’s not his fault; the fault is mine, though I’ll address it with him privately. Ultimately, the responsibility is mine, because I’m the one who decides who plays and how we play.”

Aguirre added that the dismissal unravelled a position of strength. “We were in a solid position and it was 11 against 10, but the sending-off disrupted everything. We ended up playing an all-or-nothing, wide-open game.”

The defeat leaves Valencia in 19th place in La Liga with just six points from ten matches. Elliott has contributed no goals or assists in six appearances, managing only 152 minutes of football across the entire campaign.

The midfielder’s difficulties in Spain are the latest chapter in a difficult 18 months. During the 2024/25 season he joined Aston Villa on loan but was kept out of the side to avoid triggering a £35 million obligation-to-buy clause, leaving him effectively sidelined. He moved to Valencia in the summer after conversations with then-manager Carlos Corberan, but Corberan was sacked early in the season following a poor start, and the club’s form has not improved under Aguirre.

Elliott remains under contract at Liverpool, where he has scored 15 goals across his senior career to date.