Ally McCoist suggests Bruno Guimaraes had 'no malice' but deserved his red card against Southampton

Ally McCoist claimed Bruno Guimaraes had 'no malice' in his challenge on Southampton's Samuel Edozie, but admitted the Newcastle midfielder deserved to be sent off in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.

Edozie had beaten the Brazilian to the ball in the second half, with Guimaraes' boot planted onto the Southampton forward's ankle after arriving late for the challenge.

Guimaraes was initially shown a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney, before the official ungraded the punishment to a straight red following consultation with VAR.

The 25-year-old expressed his frustration at the decision prior to walking down the tunnel.

Sky Sports co-commentator McCoist admitting he was sympathetic to Guimaraes by suggesting there was no intent for him to injure Edozie, but acknowledged a straight red card was the correct decision.

'I do have a degree of sympathy as I don’t think he means it,' McCoist said. 'There is no way he means it.

'But it is very dangerous, it could easily have resulted in a broken ankle.  I think that is a red card, I don't have a problem at all with the decision.

'He is very fortunate he doesn't break his ankle.'

Former Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given, however, suggested the midfielder had 'lost his head' in the build-up to the tackle.

Given claimed the midfielder had been 'wound up' after Tierney had not awarded free kicks in Newcastle's favour in the minutes prior to the challenge.

'There is no argument about it and there will be no appeal in the morning' Given said. 'It is a straight red card.'

'Before it he was getting upset about different tackles the referee wasn’t giving and getting wound up, you can’t defend it. He lost his head for a bit and they are going to miss him. He is a massive player.

'His next game is the final in three weeks so he won’t have 90 minutes under his belt before then, which is a problem for Eddie [Howe].'

Newcastle secured a 2-1 victory in the second leg over Southampton to win the semi-final 3-1 on aggregate.

Howe will lead Newcastle into their first final since 1999, but admitted losing Guimaraes to a three-match ban would be a blow in their pursuit of Champions League football via the Premier League.

'It's a huge blow for us and it will take time to sink in for me,' Howe said. 'He's a huge player for us and everything goes through him, so we are going to miss him but it offers an opportunity for another player.'

Guimaraes is set to miss Newcastle's upcoming matches against West Ham, Bournemouth and Liverpool in the league, but would be free to return for the Carabao Cup final.