Rafael Leão has found himself in hot water after being sent off for punching Chile defender Ivan Román during Portugal's World Cup warm-up friendly on Saturday. The AC Milan forward insists he never intended to hurt Román, claiming he threw the punch to protect a teammate rather than out of any personal aggression. It's a defence you hear quite a lot in football, and it rarely makes the red card disappear.
Let's be honest here. Whatever the context, throwing a punch at someone's face in a football match is going to get you sent off every single time. Referees are not interested in the backstory. You connect fist to face, you walk. That's the deal. Leão is a talented, exciting player and Portugal fans will love him for showing a bit of fire, but he has to be smarter than that, especially in the build-up to a World Cup.
The timing makes it worse, really. These warm-up games are supposed to be about sharpening fitness, building combinations and getting minutes into the squad. Instead, Leão turns one into a boxing match and hands the Portuguese coaching staff a selection headache they absolutely did not need. Roberto Martínez will not be thrilled.
Now, if a teammate genuinely was in danger and Leão stepped in, you can understand the instinct on a human level. Footballers are competitive animals and looking after your own is baked into dressing room culture. But the execution? A punch to the face in a friendly? That's not protecting anyone, that's just making things worse for yourself and your team.
Leão is too good a player to be remembered for moments like this. He has real quality, genuine pace and the ability to unlock any defence on his day. Portugal have a strong squad heading towards the World Cup and he should be a big part of it. Getting himself suspended for losing his head in a meaningless warm-up game would be an absolute waste of that talent.
Hopefully this is just a blip and not a sign of things to come. Portugal fans will be watching nervously.
Let me know your thoughts.