IRAQ star Aymen Hussein was sent off for excessive celebrating against Jordan in the Asian Cup.
The striker put his side 2-1 ahead in the 76th minute of their Asian Cup round of 16 clash against Jordan.
Iraq created a shock by beating Japan to top their group and were minutes away from reaching the quarter-final.
But as soon as they took the lead they were dealt a blow as referee Alireza Faghani sent off goalscorer Hussein for his celebration.
Hussein, 27, ran towards the corner flag before sitting down, legs crossed, as he pretended to eat grass.
The ref quickly brandished a yellow card – Hussein’s second of the game – followed by a red.
It was a harsh punishment for the forward, made worse by the fact several Jordan players escaped a booking for the same offence.
Yazan Al-Naimat opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and sat down before pretending to eat grass – with many of his team-mates doing the same.
Yet they all escaped punishment, with Hussein the only player entering the book for celebrating.
Iraq manager Jesus Casas fumed at the decision after the match, pointing out the disparity in punishment handed out by the ref.
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He said: “The red card changed the course of the game.
“In any major tournament players always celebrate scoring. The referee cannot give a red card for this.
“We all saw Jordan celebrating the same way and no card was given. The timing of the red card prevented us from making defensive substitutions as we had already made changes.”
Jordan took advantage of Iraq being a man down by scoring twice in added time to win 3-2.
Yazan Al-Arab poked home from close range in the fifth minute of stoppage time before Nizar Al-Rashdan broke Iraq hearts by firing in a strike from distance two minutes later.
