Liam Scales will need to pick himself up as quickly as possible after the Celtic defender’s red card on international duty.
The Republic of Ireland were beaten 5-0 by England at Wembley, but the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story and Scales was, unfortunately, at the heart of it for the wrong reasons.
In the first half alone, Celtic’s hard-hitting defender was fairing well, including keeping Kane at bay and not allowing him to breathe in front of goal.
There even came a moment when Scales hit the England skipper with a crunching tackle and it received a very loud cheer from the travelling Irish support.
At the half-time break, with the opposition possessing so much attacking talent, the Irish had kept them to 0-0 and they were deservedly level.
Scales has been outstanding for Celtic this season and he was probably the best player on the pitch during the opening 45 minutes.
But then a quite outrageous Kane pass changed it all for the away side and Scales himself.
Harry Kane expected Jude Bellingham to score before Liam Scales’ red card
The Bayern Munich star picked the ball up from deep and played a pinging ball from the left channel straight into the path of on-rushing Jude Bellingham inside the penalty area.
That resulted in the Real Madrid midfielder being one-v-one with Scales and, after he skipped past his opponent, Bellingham was tripped over.
In truth, there could be no complaints, it was a penalty and a second yellow for the player.
After the match, Kane reacted to that incident on ITV Sport and he admitted that he expected Bellingham to initially score, but in the end, he felt that Scales’ red card was the best result.
“I think so,” said Kane on one of the best passes he has hit. “I think one of the best. I expected Jude to go and score.
“But, in the end, it probably worked out best, with them getting a man sent off and then finishing the penalty.”
Scales’ actions during the Republic of Ireland’s defeat to England deemed ‘harsh’
There is no doubt about it, that sending off was the turning point because it wouldn’t have been too long before England would have run out of ideas.
They couldn’t break through a resolute and pretty strong Irish defence.
Former Ireland striker Clinton Morrison told BBC Sport that Scales’ actions were ‘poor’ and it was a ‘foul’, but he feels it wasn’t a second bookable offence.
“I said don’t get involved in nonsense and it is poor from Liam Scales,” said Morrison. “It is a foul, but I don’t think it is a yellow card. It is harsh.”
Scales now returns to Celtic duty and he will be looking to regain his place in Brendan Rodgers’ XI.
On the domestic stage, he hasn’t done much wrong to find himself on the bench, but Celtic are going strong on all fronts and it’s creating some serious competition.
Celtic face Hearts on Saturday evening and it’s going to kick start a brutal, but possibly defining winter period for the club.
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