Newcastle United reached Wembley for the first time since 1999 after beating Southampton 3-1 on aggregate in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night, but the mood was slightly dampened when the referee sent Bruno Guimaraes off in the 82nd minute.
Referee Paul Tierney showed the Brazilian a straight red card for his challenge on Southampton's Sam Edozie following a VAR review, after Tierney initially showed him a yellow card.
Fortunately for Newcastle fans, though, is their talismanic midfielder will be available for the club in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday 26 February, due to competition rules.
Carabao Cup rules state that all suspensions are applied to domestic competitions as well, meaning Guimaraes will instead miss Newcastle's next three Premier League fixtures - a consequence the majority of Magpies fans will contend with as they aim to win their first domestic cup competition since 1955.
Guimaraes is therefore suspended for upcoming league games against West Ham, Bournemouth and Liverpool, all set to be played on the next three consecutive Saturdays.
After the game against Southampton on Tuesday night, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said on Guimaraes' red card: "A huge blow for us and it will take time for it to sink in. He’s a huge player as everything goes through him – we’ll miss him. It will be an opportunity for someone else."
On the challenge, Howe said: “When the tackle happened, I thought it was a normal tackle, slightly mistimed. Then you see the slow-motion replay back, and it doesn't look great, but, I think, it doesn’t take into account the speed of which that moment is happening.
"So there’s no intent, absolutely zero intent. I thought the red card was harsh, but it's happened – and we have to deal with it.”
Being sent off against Southampton is actually the first time in Guimaraes' senior professional career he has suffered that fate. It didn't seem to faze him too much after the win, though, taking to Twitter to celebrate with the fans.
The 25-year-old tweeted: “Huge happiness to be in my first final with this shirt.
"Every day I'm sure I made the best decision coming here. First year and first final. Sad for the red card, the first in my career, but these are situations that occur during games. Thanks for the support. Wembley, here we go."
