Central Coast Mariners midfielder Wout Brama faces a nervous wait for the A-League match review panel to ponder his horrible tackle on Brisbane Roar forward Corey Gameiro.
Brama's studs flew into Gameiro's shin during stoppage-time of Saturday night's 2-1 win to the Roar in Gosford, causing the substitute's leg to twist unnaturally.
Controversially, referee Adam Kersey initially showed the Dutchman a yellow card before the video assistant upgraded it to red.
Gameiro, 24, who has undergone three knee reconstructions, remained on the ground clutching his leg as his furious skipper Matt McKay could be heard telling Kersey "the contact is right on the f---ing shin and his leg's straight."
Brisbane coach John Aloisi said the incident had left Gameiro distraught and sparked a heated post-match exchange with Mariners coach Paul Okon.
"Corey Gameiro was nearly in tears because he's been out for such a long period with three knee recons and was a little bit emotional," Aloisi said.
"Paul Okon didn't do anything wrong, he just went up to Corey to see how he was.
"There was a bit of words exchanged but both of them have no issues, they just said [some things] in the heat of the moment."
Gameiro later took to Instagram to say the injury wasn't as serious as first feared, saying he was in tears because he was "terrified that something bad had happened."
"I'm okay....," he posted. "Just going to have a good bruise down my shin."
The tackle was roundly condemned and will likely sit top of the agenda when the match review panel meets on Monday.
Former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich believed Brama deserved a six-week suspension while Archie Thompson labelled it "disgusting."
"As an ex-professional, you don't want to see players do things like this, especially to harm someone else," Thompson said.
"Because his intent was not at all to win that ball but to literally break the boy's leg.
"Lucky for Gameiro, who's had a tough spell of injuries, it's not as serious as it could have been."
Okon was reluctant to comment, having not seen the incident clearly.
"I wasn't able to see the replay," Okon said. "I saw a yellow card being shown, then the referee making the VAR signal and reversing the decision with a red card.
"You can't argue with the VAR, so I'll just go by that until I can actually see the incident again."
Okon was more than willing to admit the Mariners had played poorly and gifted the Roar both their goals, with his side slipping to eighth and without a win in nine matches.
He was less open to discussing why Andrew Hoole, who leads the team for assists and shots on goal, was left out of the matchday squad altogether.
"Just not selected," Okon said. "Trent [Buhagiar] has been training well, Lachy [Wales] has been doing great. Daniel [De Silva] is back in.
"No particular reason, just not selected."