Liverpool played Sevilla in a pre-season game at Fenway Park on Sunday night. It was a friendly in the minds of all apart from Sevilla defender Joris Gnagnon.
In the 76th minute, with the scores level at 1-1, the Frenchman swung a wild kick at Liverpool youngster Yasser Larouci.
It was immediately punished with a red card from the referee. Some Sevilla players even apologised to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
Larouci is an exciting winger signed by Liverpool from Le Harve two years ago. He was substituted soon after the incident.
The 22-year-old Gnagnon has since issued an apology via Twitter.
"I would like to publicly apologise to Liverpool, the family of the player and the supporters," he said.
"It was a heinous act on my part for whatever reason and should not be seen on a football field. All my prayers are with the player and the family."
In the post-match press conference, Klopp addressed the incident.
"[It’s] much too early in the season to create headlines with saying the things I think about the situation," said Klopp.
"Let me say how the situation is with Yasser; it looks like he was lucky but, of course, how it always is with these things we have to wait a little bit. He couldn’t keep on playing, so that’s the first not-so-good sign but in the dressing room it was OK, similar how it looks to Harry [Wilson].
"Harry got a knock on his jaw and a finger in his eye, so not too cool. He should be OK as well but couldn’t carry on as well. That’s the situation."
