I COULD HAVE BEEN BLINDED

Striker slams FA for not banning Mings over horror stamp

NELSON OLIVEIRA has blasted the FA for failing to punish Tyrone Mings over the horrific face stamp he says could have blinded him.

The Reading striker suffered five deep gashes and his nose e was broken i n four our places after r being trampled on by Mings

(right) i n the

0-0 draw with

Aston Villa last t Saturday.

But under FA rules, B ourn emouth l oan ee Mings cannot be banned retrospectively because referee Geoff Eltringham saw the incident and took no action. Speaking yesterday, the Portugal star said: “I’m not saying he did it on purpose, but he could have avoided me 100 per cent.

“He t e x t e d me to apologise. At the time I hadn’t seen the video. Football is an aggressive gam game, but that is n not football.

“It could have been much worse – I could be blind.

“I a m not cri criticising the referee because it’s not my job. It’s up to the FA to look at these things.

“If th e same thing happened to Harry Kane, what would happen? How would the FA look at it when his career could have been over?

“It’s a question to ask. If this happens in Portugal they would l ook at it a ga i n . Yo u s e e UF C fighters come off looking better than me.”

Mings was suspended for five games in 2017 for stamping on then Manchester United star Zlatan I b r a h i mo v i c’s head.

Oliveira added: “In the l a s t t w o y e a r s h e’s stamped on the head of two players. The FA need to look at that. I know there are FA rules, but sometimes things are bigger than that.”

He is being fitted with a face mask, but is unlikely to play in Reading’s game at Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow. Villa boss Dean Smith defended Mings. He said: “People look at the picture of his face after and think, ‘I m must have a look at that in incident’. They slow it d down and freeze-frame it. “Any incident i n a f football game, I could do t the same and show you p potential accidents.

“It felt to me like it b became a bit of a witchh hunt for somebody who w was assumed to have s stamped before.

“But for me this was a total accident. I’ m absolutely convinced. Th e i r b e n c h d i d n’ t appeal, none of their players appealed, the fans didn’t know what happened.’’