Shropshire Star

This video footage got Kaka sent off for what looked like a friendly MLS incident

This looks harsh.

Published

The Video Assistant Referee system has not enjoyed the smoothest of starts to life in football, and things didn’t get better during an MLS game between the New York Red Bulls and Orlando City.

Late in the game an incident caught the attention of the match referee, who went to the video review to clarify what happened when a group of players came together.

The referee was joined by the video assistant referee to review the footage – at around 1:40 in the below video the referee comes away from the monitor to distribute the cards, but one in particular had people talking.

Kaka was shown a red card for what looked like a friendly exchange with Aurelien Collin – apparently the pair are good friends.

In the footage Collin can clearly be seen talking to the referee with the Orlando City players, and later took to Twitter to protest Kaka’s innocence.

Footballers are often sent off for incidents where they place hands on an opponent’s face, but rarely are such actions carried out in a friendly manner such as this.

Was this the rule being correctly applied, or do the laws of the game need to be taken with a pinch of common sense?

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