An Edinson Cavani celebration that showed solidarity with the plane crash victims from Brazilian club Chapecoense resulted in a booking for the Uruguayan.
There's always a debate to be had about referees and their use of discretion - or lack thereof. To what extent should the letter of the law be upheld? There are perhaps those who would say a referee should apply the law totally in line with how it is laid out in the rulebook. And then there is an opinion that the rules are there to be used flexibly in line with common sense.
It's examples like that of Edinson Cavani's booking last night that would make one side with the latter view.
Cavani scored a penalty for PSG in their 2-0 win over Angers in Paris and celebrated by taking off his top and revealing a t-shirt underneath that featured the word "strength" in a tribute to Chapecoense, the Brazilian football club that lost the majority of its first team squad to a tragic plane crash in Colombia on the way to play in the Copa Sudamericana final. But he was booked for his troubles.
Edinson Cavani dedicates his 100th goal for PSG to the victims of the Chapecoense tragedy. pic.twitter.com/O1f36lf1kH
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) November 30, 2016
The football world, including clubs in Brazil, has been showing its support after the tragedy and Cavani joined in the tributes but was shown a yellow card by referee Frank Schneider.
The law in this regard is set down by FIFA Law 12, which states that a referee can issue a caution:
If a player removes his jersey or shirt over his head or covers his head with his jersey or shirt when celebrating a goal.
So to be fair to Schneider, he was just doing his job - perhaps a little bit too well. Surely in circumstances like this there are things more important than stringently following guidelines.
No doubt Cavani isn't bothered, though. Lovely gesture from the Uruguayan.
