Esteban Andrada turned the closing minutes of the Huesca-Zaragoza derby into a brawl on the grass, punching Huesca captain Jorge Pulido in the face after he had already been sent off. The violent flashpoint came in the 99th minute, after referee Arcediano Monescillo had gone to the VAR screen in the 95th to review a possible red card for Tasende.
Andrada first was shown a second yellow after an initial shove on Pulido, then headed toward him and landed the punch that knocked the defender to the turf. Pulido was left with a swollen face and a black eye, and Jesús Álvarez moved in to grab the Argentine goalkeeper as players from both sides piled in and the match dissolved into a mass confrontation.
That sequence matters because the disciplinary fallout could be severe. Iturralde González said Andrada is exposed to a ban of 4 to 12 matches, plus one more for the double yellow, while article 103 also allows a 6 to 15 match suspension when an aggression causes an injury. The referee’s report goes further, saying Andrada was expelled for two yellow cards, the first for confronting an opponent and the second for pushing Pulido in a reckless manner.
The acta also says that, after being sent off, Andrada ran and jumped toward Pulido, hit him in the face with excessive force and caused a bruise to his left cheekbone. It adds that members of both teams and state security forces had to restrain him and take him to the dressing room. In the same melee, Tasende’s yellow card was upgraded to a red and Dani Jiménez was also sent off for hitting a rival player.
The derby ended in chaos but also in a Huesca win, with two outfield players finishing in goal. What the disciplinary committee decides now will say whether the punishment stops at the red card on the field or becomes a warning to the rest of the league that the line between protest and violence is being drawn far more sharply.
