England and Colombia played out an eventful first half in their last 16 World Cup tie, but it was an incident off the ball at the end of the half that enraged the English fans and players.
Having enjoyed the bulk of possession, England looked to make it pay from a free-kick on the edge of the box. However, as Columbia were preparing their wall Wílmar Barrios trust his head towards Jordan Henderson and was subsequently shown a yellow card. Contact was minimal but Henderson did go down.
Wilmar Barrios is booked for what looks like a head-butt on Jordan Henderson, which rules him out of Colombia's next game, but is he lucky it's just a yellow card? #rtesoccer #worldcup #COL #ENG pic.twitter.com/gbPzwjD47z
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 3, 2018
The England players were enraged and immediately appealed for VAR, with Harry Maguire repeatedly gesturing for VAR.
The incident generated a huge amount of debate online.
Yellow card for a headbutt. You have to be kidding.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) July 3, 2018
So you can headbutt people now. Sound.
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) July 3, 2018
VAR doesn't resolve situation where referees seem unclear of how to referee. Barrios only booked by American referee Geiger for headbutt in penalty area
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) July 3, 2018
That looked like a pretty clear headbutt on Jordan Henderson from here. What did the replay show? #COLENG
— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) July 3, 2018
Since when is a headbutt only a yellow 🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
— Luke Ayling (@lukeayling_8) July 3, 2018
Henderson has made a right old meal of that but it doesn't change the fact it's a red card. What is going on? How can the ref not see it, then get told about it, then deem that a yellow?
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) July 3, 2018
On RTE, Liam Brady said Barrios 'could easily have been sent off' while ITV were significantly more damning. Gary Neville called it a 'stonewall red card' while Mark Clattenburg claimed it was 'clearly violent conduct and a clearly mediated act.' He did stress it was not a penalty kick as the ball was not in play.
