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Kevin Mirallas has confessed he feared a red card after his knee-high challenge on Luis Suarez, and the Belgian revealed he had earlier sounded a light-hearted warning to the Liverpool man that almost came back to haunt him.

Mirallas escaped a red card despite an X-rated challenge in the first half of Saturday’s Merseyside derby, which left Suarez with stud marks in his knee.

Amazingly, the Belgian admits he pre-empted the incident by jokingly threatening Suarez at the start of the match. Sky Sports provides the quotes:

I had said to Suarez soon after the kick-off when we were standing close to each other 'do you remember last season, you kicked me?' He laughed and said 'yes, fair enough', but that tackle was nothing to do with a year ago.

Mirallas had to wait for a lengthy period of time before referee Phil Dowd produced the yellow card at Goodison Park. Dowd allowed Suarez to get treatment and dealt with several scuffles, all the while allowing Mirallas to fear the worst:

When I made the challenge the first thing I thought was that it was going to be a red card. I was genuinely going for the ball but I know I caught him on the knee and I said sorry straight away.

Mirallas scored Everton’s first equaliser in a pulsating derby that finished 3-3. However, he was fortunate on more than one occasion not to receive his marching orders, having also cut Jordan Henderson around the eye during an aerial challenge.

Still, it is understandable that he claims there was no intent to his challenge on Suarez. The ball rose high between the two players, and not being a malicious individual, the tackle seemed badly misjudged rather than cynical.

There does, though, seem to be some simmering ill-feeling between Mirallas and Suarez. A later incident in the match saw the Liverpool striker lunge in aggressively on his rival, with Mirallas' boots landing dangerously close to Suarez's head as he fell.

It will now be interesting to see if Liverpool receive a call from referees’ chief Mike Riley regarding the knee-high challenge. Riley apologised to West Brom after they were victims of a poor officiating decision at Chelsea prior to the international break, per BBC Sport.

Mirallas’ challenge was a clear case of reckless play that deserved a red card without a question of doubt. Therefore, to maintain a degree of fairness, Brendan Rodgers should hear from Riley prior to Liverpool’s next game.