Cardiff City’s thumping win over Swansea City in the South Wales Derby was slightly marred by a red card for manager Omer Riza. The Bluebirds scored three second-half goals to run out 3-0 winners over their rivals on Saturday afternoon. Two goals from Callum Robinson and a header from Dimitrios Goutas gave Cardiff their biggest victory over Swansea since 1994.
It was an emotional occasion for Riza, who announced on Thursday that his father had passed away. "I’ve just lost the greatest man in my life, shocked, devastated, love you," Riza wrote. “Thank you for everything you have done for me. You can never be replaced dad, I love you.”.
Cardiff fans paid tribute to their manager’s father by singing “Omer Riza, this one's for your dad.” But the occasion turned sour for the 45-year-old, who was shown a red card after losing his head in the closing stages. Standing just outside his technical area, Riza was barged into by Swansea midfielder Goncalo Franco as the ball ran out of play. Riza reacted furiously, charging onto the pitch to confront Franco, and had to be held back by his players and coaching staff.
He was then shown the red card by James Bell and the flash point seemed to contribute to fractious post-match scenes. There was a melee on the sidelines, involving both squads, which took a while to simmer down. Ultimately, Cardiff didn’t mind, with Riza leaving post-match media duties to his assistant Tom Ramasut. “It was pretty cagey, we probably gave them too much time in the first 20 minutes. We had a few tweaks and it allowed us to put some pressure on them,” he said.
