ASTON Villa's Tyrone Mings has escaped punishment by the Football Association for an incident which left Reading FC striker Nelson Oliveira with a gruesome facial injury.
An FA spokesman has confirmed they cannot take retrospective action against Mings as the controversial incident was seen by referee Geoff Eltringham at the time.
Oliveira required surgery for a broken nose and deep facial wounds after Mings' boot caught him in the face during the second half of Saturday's 0-0 draw at Madejski Stadium.
Nelson Oliveira posted this message on social media as he recovers from surgery.
Referee Mark Halsey urged the FA to come down heavily on the on-loan Bournemouth defender, who was retrospectively banned for five matches in 2017 for stamping on the head of former Manchester United striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
As a club, we ensured that the referee & the FA were fully aware of an incident during Saturday’s match which caused injury to our striker, Nélson Oliveira. But as the incident was seen by the ref at the time, we understand no retrospective action can or will be taken by the FA. pic.twitter.com/AXYa8N9Rgg
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) February 4, 2019
Oliveira's wife also vented her anger on social media, calling Mings' actions 'disgusting' before adding: "He can't get away with that. He's got previous."
But after studying Eltringham's report today and taking into account the official saw the incident and did not book Mings, nor even award a free-kick, the FA can take no further action.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here