OPINION
Newcastle’s January signing Miguel Almiron has been turning heads at St James’ Park since his arrival but he made headlines for all the wrong reasons when Paraguay took on Mexico in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Introduced as a substitute in the 56th minute with his side 3-0 down, he made an immediate impact, passing to Oscar Romero, who assisted a goal for Hernan Perez. However, just three minutes later he was sent off for a horrific looking challenge on Mexico’s Jose Juan Vazquez.
You can see the tackle on this video from Chronicle writer Andrew Musgrove. The game ended 4-2 to Mexico.
Miguel Almiron sent off for Paraguay for this awful challenge. He’d come on with his side 3-0 down, got an assist and then did this. Best and worst of him shown in just seven minutes #NUFC https://t.co/0Cwm6ycIwo
— Andrew Musgrove (@ADMusgrove) March 27, 2019
Some Newcastle fans were concerned that he would now be suspended for domestic games.
Oh no ?
Almiron banned for 3 games?
Schär suspended
Longstaff injured
We’re only a Rondon injury away from JoseluNot safe just yet!#NUFC
— David Foster (@Dfozzy1970) March 27, 2019
Almiron will now miss the next 3 #NUFC matches through suspension. Massive blow to the club at this crucial stage of the season. https://t.co/PW26qfCFfy
— COLA (@Percycola) March 27, 2019
However, we can confirm that this isn’t the case. Almiron will get a suspension for the tackle and it could well be three games but it will only affect international games. And, actually, without wanting to condone the tackle, Almiron getting sent off has ensured he comes back home after the international break unscathed. Something that was pointed out by some Newcastle fans.
Other Newcastle fans were pretty shocked by the tackle, with one fan saying he’d watched the player a lot and never seen anything like it before.
That stacks up. He only picked up eight yellow cards in 70 games for Atlanta and has only been sent off once in his career – for two yellow cards playing for Club Atlético Lanús. He’s yet to be booked in six games for Newcastle so the tackle seems completely out of character. But it’s a shocker.
Here are the best reactions from Newcastle fans:
Minutes after bringing Paraguay back into the match, it’s a strange time to completely lose his cool, too.
I’ve watched Almiron play at least 30 or 40 times – for Atlanta, Newcastle, his country – and never seen anything like that in his game. Very odd.
— Ben Spratt (@bensprattjourn) March 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/maverick19821/status/1110823571041992704
https://twitter.com/mridley81/status/1110818282725167104
https://twitter.com/futbldan/status/1110805977874468866
Wanted to make sure he was fit for Monday, get in there lad ?????
— Tyler Hutchinson (@HutchTyler) March 27, 2019
Ha that’s an absolutely awful challenge!
— Matt Worth (@FTBLL_HPSTR) March 27, 2019
Moment of madness! I certainly won’t judge him just on that incident! I’ve seen what he can do on a pitch and that’s enough ????
— Lee Hopkinson (@LeeHoppy16) March 27, 2019