Leeds striker Patrick Bamford could be suspended for the first leg of the play-offs for playacting to get Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi sent off.
Bamford went down, claiming he had been hit by El Ghazi during the 21-player melee caused by Leeds’ controversial opener at Elland Road on Sunday.
Referee Stuart Attwell dismissed the Villa forward because he thought he had struck Bamford, but TV replays show he did not touch him.
The FA have the power to charge Bamford with simulation if they believe he conned Attwell into sending El Ghazi off.
Bamford would be clobbered with a two-match ban if found guilty, which would rule him out of Sunday’s final regular Championship match at Ipswich as well as Leeds’ first leg of the play-off semi-final.
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Villa boss Dean Smith is adamant El Ghazi did not touch Bamford and is confident his red card will be overturned, which would be bad news for the Leeds man.
“I’ll be amazed if he misses three games because I’ve watched the footage back and there’s nothing to it, he doesn’t touch him,” said Smith. “We’ll certainly be appealing that.”
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El Ghazi and Bamford clashed after Mateusz Klich scored instead of playing the ball out when Jonathan Kodjia was down injured.
The rival benches also confronted each other and calm was only restored when Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa ordered his players to let Villa score from the restart to cancel out Klich’s goal.
