Awkward moment footballer tries to high-five ref to avoid red card

A footballer tried to avoid being sent off by giving the referee a high-five in a European cup match.

German side Bayer Leverkusen hosted Azerbaijan's Qarabag in a second leg round of 16 Europa League clash on March 14.

The tie was 2-2 heading into the return leg, after Leverkusen came back from 2-0 down in the first to maintain their unbeaten streak in all competitions this season.

The first-half of the second leg was goalless before the visitors went ahead just before the hour mark.

But then defender Elvin Cafarguliyev got himself in trouble.

The Azerbaijani player tugged Jeremie Frimpong's shirt after he broke free and was bearing down on goal for a one-on-one.

Frimpong tried to keep his footing to get a show away but couldn't, falling to the floor.

English referee Anthony Taylor initially gave Cafarguliyev a yellow card.

But VAR intervened to check if Cafarguliyev should be shown a red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

After a couple of minutes of checks, with Taylor himself going over to the monitor to review the incident, he signalled he would be rescinding the yellow card.

That led Cafarguliyev to try and high-five him - before Taylor showed him a straight red.

The Azerbaijani then turned away in disgust and walked off the pitch.

Soon after that, Qarabag doubled their lead with 20 minutes left to go despite being down to ten men.

But Leverkusen dramatically turned things around - Frimpong scored shortly afterwards, before Patrick Schick netted twice in injury time, including a 97th minute winner, to fire the German side to the quarter-finals.

The draw for that takes place on March 15 in Nyon, Switzerland.

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