Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch says Daniel James feels "terrible" after his red card against Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Wales star James was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Mateo Kovacic in the first half at Elland Road - Leeds' second red in as many games. The home side were already 1-0 down to Thomas Tuchel's side when James clattered into the Blues midfielder.
Replays showed James took the ball first but the force of the challenge saw him catch the Croatian nastily. James could be seen mouthing the words "I got the ball" to referee Anthony Taylor, but to no avail. The Londoners went on to cruise to a 3-0 win and push Leeds ever closer to relegation.
READ MORE: Leeds United star Dan James abused after 'horror' tackle in Chelsea match shocks viewers
Kovacic is now set to miss the FA Cup final with Liverpool on Saturday, and despite believing James' tackle had no malice in it, Marsch revealed that the former Manchester United winger felt awful in the aftermath, adding that he said he didn't mean it.
"At first I thought it wasn’t a red," he said. "I haven’t seen it but I was told it was a red. Dan said he didn’t mean to do it, he was just trying to be aggressive to win the ball and caught him in a little bit of a bad way. Dan feels terrible."
The American manager said he was happy enough with the way his team were performing prior to the red card.
"I felt pretty good about that," he added. "Obviously we gave up an early goal and that was not our goal, we talked about keeping it 0-0 as long as possible to give ourselves a chance. I thought we were aggressive, we were getting after them and the game was there for us. The red card changed the match.
"One thing for sure I’m not going to sit here and blame anyone. Our guys come everyday and they do everything they can, they stick together, they fight for each other, even on the third goal you see guys diving around the box doing everything they can to keep themselves in this league and in this match.
"I love these players, they fight to the end and we have to find ways to rewards ourselves and not go down in matches and stay even."
James was abused by sections of fans on social media following the challenge on Kovacic, which also saw him come in for criticism in the Sky Sports studio at half-time.
"It's reckless, yes he gets the ball but his studs catch the rest of Kovacic," said former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness.
"I mean we can see the bench from Leeds United complain about it, yes he gets the ball, but he also gets the player. That's a dangerous tackle and that's a red card."
