Mason Holgate was shown a red card following a VAR review after a sickening tackle on Kaoru Mitoma.
Sheffield United were reduced to 10 men in the 13th minute following Holgate's moment of madness.
He hacked down Brighton's Japanese winger with an extremely high challenge.
Match referee Stuart Attwell initially handed the defender a yellow card before overturning his decision to a red card following a swift VAR review.
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Attwell looked at the incident once on the VAR cameras to reverse his original decision following protestation from the Brighton players.
Fortunately for Mitoma, he was unharmed and escaped any major injuries despite the knee-high challenge.
Fans online slammed Holgate's reckless tackle on Mitoma as they made their feelings clear.,
One X user wrote: "That’s the quickest VAR overturn I’ve ever seen. Mason Holgate you disgusting man trying to end Mitoma’s career."
A second tweeted: "That's an absolute shocker from Mason Holgate."
A third added: "That’s one of the worst challenges I’ve ever seen from Mason Holgate. Deserves a big ban. Outrageous."
A fourth said: "Absolutely disgraceful challenge from Mason Holgate. Terrible tackle from an absolutely awful footballer. Mitoma is lucky he's OK."
Another slammed: "Mason Holgate with one of the worst challenges you’re ever likely to see in football, absolutely insane."
Holgate, who had been on loan at Southampton this season, joined Sheff United on loan from Everton for the remainder of the campaign during the January transfer window.
Topics: Fan Reactions, Football
Nasir Jabbar