Sevilla defender Joris Gnagnon has apologised for the rash challenge he made on Liverpool teenager Yasser Larouci during Sunday's pre-season friendly match at Fenway Park.
Larouci ran with the ball past Gnagnon on the 76th minute, and the Frenchman hacked him down with a strangely reckless kick to the shin.
It appeared that Gnagnon's rash challenge on Larouci was in retaliation to a tackle that Liverpool's Dejan Lovren allegedly committed minutes earlier at the opposing end of the pitch.
The 22-year-old pointed upfield to the referee after his horror tackle on the Liverpool youngster, which of course did not prevent him from receiving a deserved red card.
Gnagnon has since apologised for his actions, writing on Twitter: "I would like to publicly apologise to Liverpool, the family of the player and the supporters.
"It was a heinous act on my part for whatever reason and should not be seen on a football field.
"All my prayers are with the player and the family."
Sevilla also added: "Everyone at Sevilla FC wishes Yasser Larouci a full and fast recovery after tonight’s game."
Disgraceful tackle in a pre season friendly!! Sevilla’s Joris Gnagnon on Liverpool’s Yasser Larouci. Dreadful stuff #LFCPreSeason #Liverpoolfc pic.twitter.com/AswOBwZA8M
— Benjamin Chevreau (@benchevreau) July 21, 2019
Though no serious damage was done to Larouci, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp believes that his player was extremely lucky to avoid a severe injury.
"It's much too early in the season to create headlines with saying the things I think about the situation," said the 52-year-old in a post-match interview with reporters.
"In general, I don’t like overly hard games. The challenge is there to win the ball, that’s the only reason. There are rules.
"I don’t want to say anything specific about this game because there will be headlines. I want to have a holiday in Spain again.
"Let me say how the situation is with Yasser; it looks like he was lucky but, of course, how it always is with these things we have to wait a little bit."
"He hit him full throttle and, in that moment, [if it was] a little bit different position where he hit him then it's done. He rolls... he is a sports boy so that was OK, nothing happened there.
"I don't know 100 per cent. It looks like he was lucky but I only spoke quickly to the doc and that's what he said, but we have to see."
Former Manchester City striker Nolito opened the scoring for Sevilla, before Divock Origi levelled proceedings just before half-time with a tap-in from close range. The Spaniard's eventually came away with the spoils, though, courtesy of a last-minute finish from Alejandro Pozo.
Liverpool have now lost their previous two friendlies after slumping to a slender 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
