Yellows for diving are generally reserved for players with reputations. A flop from your typical brave Brit is a lot less likely to receive a booking than the same one from a player refs know as a consistent victim of sniper fire.
Gerard Deulofeu is, alongside his moments of genius, known for enjoying the dive. And this one, blatantly spurred on after he realized he wouldn’t be able to catch up to the ball he just poked forward, was perfectly deserving of a booking. Whether he follows this up with a hat-trick of assists in the second half or a petulant kick-out that gets him sent off is anyone’s guess. We’ll be watching to find out.
Update: Naturally, Deulofeu later exhibited the ying to his earlier yang by scoring Everton’s go-ahead goal.
[NBC Extra Time]