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Tyrone Mings will face no punishment for a challenge which left Reading striker Nelson Oliveira requiring surgery.
The Aston Villa defender’s boot landed on the face of the Royals striker during the second half of Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Madejski Stadium which led to multiple deep cuts to his face.
Oliveira, making his home debut following his loan arrival from Norwich City, was subsequently taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital and underwent surgery to repair the wounds to his forehead and nose before returning home on Monday.
However, referee Geoff Eltringham’s match report revealed that he had seen the incident and decided not to award a free-kick, believing no foul had occurred. As he did not miss the clash, the FA are unable to review the event.
A statement from Reading FC said: “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.”
Before this ruling, Oliveira’s wife Mel took to Instagram calling for action. She said: “It was a sad day for us and I hope someone will appeal for this guy (Mings) to get a lengthy ban!
“There’s absolutely no excuse for his behaviour. He knew where his head was.
“Any injury is upsetting but something like this is just disgusting.
“I hope something will happen, he can’t get away with that! He’s got previous!”
On Saturday evening, Mings said “no one feels worse than me” and that he felt “awfully sorry to Oliveira, I hope he is OK”.
Bournemouth loanee Mings has previously been punished for a similar incident, banned for five matches for an alleged stamp on Zlatan Ibrahamovic when the Cherries faced Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2017.
