Only once in a blue moon does an incident like this come along... a player flashing a card at the referee. And itâÂÂs usually just a bit of fun.
Paul Gascoigne once did it, after the man in black had dropped his cards, only the ref didnâÂÂt find it funny, and booked the midfielder for his troubles.
This week, in Rio de Janeiro, it was a Botafogo defender's turn to yellow-card the man in the middle.
"Ah come on ref, it was only a bit of fun like man..."
Andre Luis had already been shown his second yellow card of the day following a brawl in the Copa Sudamericana match against Estudiantes.
But instead of quietly sloping off for an early bath, Luis blew his top and snatched the card from Chilean referee Carlos ChandÃÂa's hands.
By then, the game was tied at 2-2 (trailing 2-4 on aggregate) after 68 minutes, with Botafogo needing another three goals to advance to the next round of the competition.
So with their team already as good as eliminated, fans celebrated the additional entertainment on the pitch like a goal being scored. Interviewed after the match, one Botafogo supporter commented: âÂÂThat alone was worth the ticket.âÂÂ
"Come on then, I'll take on the lot of you..."
Luis has a reputation for having a bit of a wild side. After being sent off in a game against Nautico, he fought with police on the pitch and was eventually frog-marched off the playing surface by the authorities.
As Palmeiras coach Wanderley Luxemburgo put it, after seeing the card melee on TV. âÂÂHeâÂÂs a good player, and more than that a good person. But in 10 seconds he flips and does those thingsâÂÂ.
