Brighton defender Joel Veltman admits Declan Rice’s controversial red card against the Seagulls last weekend was “harsh”.
The Gunners midfielder was dismissed for a second bookable offence during the 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium before the international break.
Rice was already on a yellow card and was shown a second when flicking the ball away as Veltman tried to take a quick free-kick after the defender was fouled by the England international.
The fact Veltman kicked through Rice as the Arsenal star made contact with the ball, however, invoked the ire of the home supporters, who were shocked to have seen Rice in fact sent off.
Mikel Arteta claimed he was “amazed” by the sending off, while pundit Micah Richards labelled it one of the “worst decisions” in Premier League history.
Still, despite the controversy, Rice admitted he was right to have been dismissed.
Speaking of the incident, Veltman told Sky Sports: “For me, it goes really far, with like comments on social media. We have a new game day coming up, so I don’t want to say a lot about it.
“The only thing I can say is that I didn’t want to kick him. It’s just he kicked it away, I kicked him. I find it quite harsh as well. If you see my reaction, you can look back, I was not going to the referee to get him a second yellow, I was going to him ‘Why did you kick it? I’m sorry I kicked you’.
“I think he gave an amazing comment. I think that’s what personally surprised me about him, how he commented in the media after.”
The Key Match Incidents panel (KMI) unanimously backed referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision, viewing Rice’s touch of the ball as “clear, deliberate and impactful".
It wrote: "Rice knows what he's doing - it's a gentle touch, but once the referee sees it he has no choice."
The KMI panel consists of three former players or coaches, one Premier League representative and one from the referees' body.
