Premier League explains why Heung-Min Son was red carded instead of Serge Aurier

The Premier League explains why Heung-Min Son was shown a red card rather than Serge Aurier following Andre Gomes’ horrific leg injury.

It was a sight to make anyone’s stomach twist – Andre Gomes suffered a horrific lower leg injury following a collision with Serge Aurier in Everton’s 1-1 draw with Spurs on Sunday afternoon.

While it was certainly the contact with Aurier that caused the injury, which left most people in the stadium visibly upset, Heung-Min Son was handed a red card for his attempted tackle on Gomes a mere millisecond before he collided with Aurier.

The situation left many fans confused over why the South Korean was handed the red card rather than Aurier, and just a few hours after the match ended, the Premier League released an official statement with a clear explanation on the decision:

"“The red card for Son was for endangering the safety of a player which happened as a consequence of his initial challenge.”"

So it seems the league didn’t deem the contact itself red card worthy, but instead saw that Son’s initial attempted challenge propelled Gomes into Aurier, which ultimately may cost him a year or more of football. Not that Son or Aurier meant for anything so devastating to happen, of course – Son in particular was visibly upset after seeing the extend of Gomes’ injury, while Aurier was seen doing a prayer for the Portuguese international.

All in all, it was simply a devastating incident, one that has importance which goes far beyond the match result or even football itself.

As mentioned earlier, the match finished 1-1, with Cenk Tosun scoring a late equalizer in a match that will likely only be remembered for the horrific injury fiasco. The Everton players showed an immense amount of class for the way they consoled Heung-Min Son following the injury, and it was a good display of sportsmanship from both sides in general. Hopefully Andre Gomes has a speedy and healthy recovery.