Ben Brereton Diaz fires dig at Newcastle United now dust has settled on ‘embarrassing’ red card

Ben Brereton Diaz has insisted “that’s football” and declared only his manager and teammates’ opinions matter following Fabian Schar’s controversial red card.

Newcastle United were rocked just 28 minutes into the Premier League season when Schar was dismissed against Southampton. Referee Craig Pawson judged the Swiss international to have “headbutted” Brereton Diaz, who collapsed to the floor.

VAR refused to intervene despite TV replays showing minimal contact. Brereton Diaz’s reaction was widely panned, with Toon legend Alan Shearer calling him “embarrassing” for tumbling to the floor.

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Newcastle appealed the decision but to no avail, largely due to VAR seeing the incident and deciding against overturning the on-field ref. Schar missed United’s last three fixtures but is available for selection at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

Three weeks on from the incident, Saints striker Brereton Diaz has broken his silence to defend the dismissal. He told the Daily Mail: "For me it was adrenaline. In the game, I felt contact and went down and that’s just how it is. If it’s not a red card, the VAR has got to come in and say it’s not a red card but, for me, I felt contact and that’s it.

"That’s football. I’m not really on Twitter or much like that but that comes with football. That’s part and parcel of it. People have opinions. The only opinions I have to care about are what the team and the manager think.

"I’ve watched it back a couple of times. It’s a tough one, isn’t it? In this day and age it’s hard to really say 'Is it a red card or is it not?' But it’s not my decision. I’ve felt contact, went down and the ref and the VAR have got to sort it out. They thought it was a red card so it’s a red card. I’m just trying to play football. At the end of the day, I’m all good. It is what it is."