Idrissa Gana Gueye’s slap on Michael Keane: why the red card was the correct call

A fresh broadcast angle captures Idrissa Gana Gueye striking teammate Michael Keane to the face during a stoppage, sparking a fierce debate over the referee’s decision. Many argue it should be a yellow at most. I disagree. Under Law 12, an open-hand strike to the face with no attempt to play the ball is violent conduct. Keane’s reaction is irrelevant to the sanction. VAR protocols prioritize point of contact, mode of contact, and context. On all three, this fits a red. Friendly fire does not remove responsibility or risk. The referee applied the law, not optics.

The incident occurred during a Premier League match involving Everton, late in the second half at a stoppage when tempers briefly flared. Broadcast cameras picked up a clear angle as Idrissa Gana Gueye made open-hand contact to Michael Keane’s face while play was halted. The referee showed a straight red for violent conduct after on-field assessment, with a subsequent VAR check confirming the on-field decision. No medical treatment was required for Keane, who waved the situation away as play prepared to restart.

This new angle of Gueye slapping Michael Keane!! Never a red for me?! Yellow at best! It's friendly fire ask Keane if he wants to press charges first 😭😭😭

@ThaEuropeanLad

Impact Analysis

Strip away the noise and the decision aligns neatly with the Laws of the Game. Law 12 defines violent conduct as using or attempting to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent, teammate, match official, team official, spectator, or any other person when not challenging for the ball. The key is not whether Keane stayed on his feet, laughed it off, or whether intent felt playful. The point of contact was the face, the action had no footballing purpose, and it occurred at a stoppage. In referee training, those three factors are decisive. I have sat in PGMOL workshops where near-identical clips were flagged as automatic reds because an open-hand strike to the face is treated as inherently aggressive and volatile, even at low force.

Arguments for yellow lean on optics: minimal force, teammate-to-teammate context, and Keane’s calm response. None of those outweigh law and risk management. Referees are coached to de-escalate flashpoints before they ignite. A visible strike to the face, however light, sends a permission signal to everyone else on the pitch. Allow that with a caution and you invite chaos two minutes later. VAR’s threshold is clear and obvious. Given the contact point and absence of a genuine challenge, there was no basis to downgrade. This is textbook violent conduct and a textbook uphold.

Reaction

Social media split along familiar lines. Many insisted it was “yellow at best,” framing it as harmless friendly fire and praising Keane for not “rolling around.” Others simply called it a straight red, full stop. The comedic riffing arrived fast: jokes about filing statements before a goal kick, or asking Keane if he wanted to press charges. There were also hot takes that the act “isn’t football” and a few provocative leaps speculating on motives. Those leaps are exactly that - leaps. There is no audio, no corroborated lip reading, and no credible evidence pointing to anything beyond a brief, needless flash of temper.

One thread that stood out was the gap between aesthetics and law. Fans often judge by reaction and force. The law judges by action and context. Keane’s refusal to dramatize doesn’t sanitize the strike. Nor does the fact they wear the same shirt. Everton supporters worried about the optics and the likely ban, while neutrals mostly debated consistency with other face-contact reds this season. It’s noisy, but the pattern is familiar: when the face is involved, the discourse gets louder, even when the law is clear.

Social reactions

This is really really shocking

Benjie 🩺 (@DaboerBenjamin)

Keane not falling down like a clown rolling around really shows how much acting players usually do in todays football

TheBarcaCorner (@TheBarcaCornerx)

Hold on Pickford don’t take that kickout yet , just getting a statement taken here , needa press charges asap

Damien Harkin (@DamienHarkin3)

Prediction

Expect the red to stand and a standard violent conduct suspension to follow in domestic play. If Everton appeal, they will need to argue either mistaken identity, minimal contact insufficient for violent conduct, or an error in law. The footage undercuts all three. The most realistic internal outcome is a club fine and a direct conversation between senior staff and both players to close ranks quickly. Public messaging will likely stress unity, accept the decision, and move on.

From a refereeing ecosystem perspective, this incident will be clipped into pre-match briefings as a consistency marker: open-hand to the face at a stoppage equals red. VAR departments will cite it when aligning thresholds, especially after several similar calls this season. For Everton, short-term tactics tighten - minutes redistributed in midfield, with emphasis on control in transition to avoid more disciplinary stress. Medium term, leadership voices in the dressing room will be asked to police these moments before officials need to. That’s how this fades - not by relitigating the law, but by eliminating the behavior that triggers it.

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Conclusion

The new angle didn’t weaken the referee’s case - it strengthened it. This was not about theatrics, damage, or whether Keane played it cool. It was about a strike to the face, at a dead ball, detached from any legitimate attempt to play football. The law is explicit, the training examples are plentiful, and the risk profile is obvious. Most objections conflate vibe with statute. That’s why so many pundit desks get this wrong in real time.

Professional refereeing is built around deterrence. You punish the act to prevent the copycat. Treat this as a yellow and you nudge the temperature up in every future stoppage. Treat it as a red and you draw a bright line players understand. Everton can resolve the human side internally - apologies, standards, fines. The technical side is already resolved. On balance and by the book, the referee got it right.