Kevin Miralles has admitted that he felt relieved when he saw a yellow card being produced rather than a red one after he went in high on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
The Belgium international equalised earlier on in the game after Philippe Coutinho put The Reds 1-0 up, but he stole the headlines due to his awful tackle on Suarez later on in the game.
With the ball loose, it was the Uruguayan who got there first, but Miralles made sure he wasn’t getting away by smashing into Suarez’s knee with his studs which left the striker bleeding from the knee-cap.
Despite the obvious proof of the collision, Miralles only received a yellow card and after the game he admitted that he felt relieved not to be sent off.
“When I made the challenge the first thing I thought was that it was going to be a red card,” said Mirallas.
“I was genuinely going for the ball but I know I caught him on the knee and I said sorry straight away.
“I might have been okay because it was the derby, because in those matches there is always a lot of contact, a lot of tackles going in. There is a lot of pressure on the players and the fans in these sort of games.”
He added: “I had said to Suarez soon after the kick-off when we were standing close to each other ‘do you remember last season, you kicked me?’
“He laughed and said ‘yes, fair enough’, but that tackle was nothing to do with a year ago. And Suarez played for a long time after that with no problem, with no injury, so he was okay, and I am glad he wasn’t injured.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
