Former Premier League defender Curtis Davies stated the choice was an “absolute shame”.

“Kelly goes up for a header, he is gone for the header cleanly. His ft should land on the bottom someplace,” he added on BBC Radio 5 Reside.

“Sadly, he lands on the participant. There must be a degree of understanding – the place is he meant to place his ft? I perceive Kelly’s frustration.”

Davies’ sentiments have been echoed by soccer journalist Rory Smith, who known as the choice “terrible” and a “shame”.

In the meantime, former Tottenham midfielder Andy Reid felt soccer was “shifting nearer and nearer to being a non-contact sport”.

“There must be contact in soccer and generally individuals do get painful ones. It occurs. There’s nothing you are able to do about that. It is a part of the sport,” he stated.

In response to Uefa guidelines, any participant despatched off by the referee – whether or not that’s through two yellows or a straight purple – is routinely suspended for the subsequent match in European membership competitors.

Nevertheless, in gentle of Juventus’ exit from the Champions League, Kelly’s suspension will carry over to subsequent season.

Former Manchester Metropolis defender Nedum Onuoha added: “If I used to be Kelly I might be actually disillusioned, however with how soccer works, it is all the time going to be a purple.”

However former Liverpool full-back Stephen Warnock disagreed.

“I do not agree with it as a result of it’s purely unintentional. I perceive the yellow card, however not the purple,” he stated.