Jack Grealish took the step of trying to stop an opponent being shown a red card, as Serge Aurier was sent off in Ivory Coast’s defeat to England at Wembley.
The former Tottenham full-back, and the skipper of the Elephants, was shown two yellow cards in the first half, the second happened on 40 minutes for dissent.
Ivory Coast were 1-0 down and went on to lose 3-0 as the second half of the friendly game became something of a damp squib.
Grealish wanted Aurier to remain on the field and make the friendly more of a challenge for the young England side, which could have seen them learn more about themselves.
He made his feelings known to Erik Lambrechts, but the Belgian referee had already made up his mind for the red card.
‘I wanted him to stay on, because it’s like a friendly innit,’ Grealish told Sky Sports. ‘You get a bit more from playing against 11 men. It would have been more of a challenge for us.
‘I said to the ref, “Come on like, let him stay on.” But when the ref had give him his second yellow, he wasn’t going to go back on it.
‘That was just my thinking on it. I just wanted him to stay on really, just so it would be a tougher test for us.’
Grealish also revealed a conversation with Raheem Sterling after he set up his Man City teammate for the second goal of the clash.
It was an excellent pass from Grealish to set-up the England skipper, but the former Aston Villa man wanted the favour returned at times.
‘I said to Raz, “Is there any chance of you passing to me? Is there any danger?”‘ Grealish said with a smile. ‘I’m just happy to get goals and assists, because they’ve been a bit difficult to come by at City.
‘Obviously since I’ve been here [with England] I’ve had quite a few assists, I just want to keep contributing and playing well because I really, really enjoy it.’
