Kaka gets sent off via VAR after playful swipe goes wrong

There’s not much worse in football than suffering the injustice of a bad refereeing decision that leads to a disallowed goal.  

It's why so many fans are in favour of video assistant referees (VAR) – but in MLS it caused more problems than it fixed on Saturday, much to Brazilian legend Kaka’s dismay.

Kaka, now plying his trade for eighth-placed Orlando City, was shown a late red card in his team's 3-1 defeat to New York Red Bulls, after the VAR decided that he'd grabbed the face of ex-team-mate Aurelien Collin.

He had – but only in jest, as the replay showed. Neither official was fond of such playfulness, however, and decided that rules were rules.

No New York Red Bulls player tried to get Kaka sent off – quite the opposite, in fact, as ‘victim’ Collin defended Kaka's cause instead. 

Watch On

Orlando goalkeeper Joe Bendik groaned to the Orlando Sentinel: “Obviously the referees don’t know that Ricky and Aurelien are close friends, but when they look back at it they see each other smiling.”

The VAR system has only been in place for two weekends in MLS, but quickly claimed its first high-profile victim.  

• Nicklas Bendtner channels inner Quaresma to score exquisite trivela goal
• Jordan Ikoko steals limelight from Neymar with glorious own goal against PSG
• Fulham's Tomas Kalas lasts all of 39 seconds before red card against Reading

In Other News... on FourFourTwo.com