Twitter Reacts to Christian Benteke's Red Card vs. Tottenham

Aston Villa's Christian Benteke only just returned to the Premier League pitches after a lengthy absence due to injury, but he's already facing some more time on the sideline after picking up a red card during Sunday's fixture against Tottenham.       

The Belgium international got involved in a feisty duel after a charge on Eric Lamela, which was followed by an altercation with Ryan Mason. After some words were exchanged, the forward put his hand on the face of the Spurs midfielder and shoved him away, and official Neil Swarbrick interpreted it as a slap.

Former German football star Dietmar Hamann thought the decision was harsh:

ESPN FC's James Tyler shared his opinion, remarking that the rules do indicate a slap is worthy of a sending off, but the incident with Benteke wasn't as severe:

As shared by Squawka, Benteke broke a long streak of excellent on-pitch behaviour for Villa, which hadn't had anyone sent off since May of last year. The last player to see red? You guessed it:

BetVictor just couldn't help themselves, taking a shot at Spurs striker Roberto Soldado:

H & J's reporter and Spurs fan Richard Cracknell tried to explain Mason's reaction to the incident:

Paddy Power remained in the spirit of Halloween:

Christopher Davies of talkSPORT spoke out in defence of referee Swarbrick, making a solid observation:

Meanwhile, 7amkickoff noted Mason initiated the contact before falling into the role of victim:

"

I should also add "Mason head butted, then when Benteke touched him, he acted like he'd been slapped". Worse than diving in my opinion.

— 7amkickoff (@7amkickoff) November 2, 2014"

Benteke's red card was undoubtedly harsh, but as talkSPORT's Davies pointed out, by putting his hands on an opposing player, he forced the official into making a decision.

The Belgian will miss Villa's match against West Ham United barring appeal.

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