Issa Diop was ‘so, so lucky’ to avoid being shown a red card after bringing James McAtee down as he raced through on goal.The Ipswich defender was only given a yellow card for the poor challenge, which clattered the Nottingham Forest attacker.Diop was only shown a yellow card after wiping out McAtee as he raced through on goal at Portman RoadGettyMcAtee touched the ball past Diop and looked to be clean through on goal, but as he seemingly broke free, his opponent slid across his path, taking him out. At first, referee Thomas Bramall didn’t even award a free-kick, despite the Moroccan international getting nowhere near the ball. However, after the ball went out of play, the official paused the match as VAR took a look at the incident. Bramall was then called over the VAR monitor, and he watched multiple replays of the tackle from Diop on McAtee.Nottingham Forest manager Oliver Glasner was incensed on the touchline after seeing Diop originally avoid punishment.And he was then left baffled again, as Bramall only opted to give the Ipswich centre-back a yellow card instead of red, pointing out that McAtee’s touch was going away from goal.Diop ‘very lucky’ to avoid redOn talkSPORT’s commentary from Portman Road, Joe Shennan explained: “Diop is booked, it is a free-kick to Forest, but the referee rules that there is a covering defender.”Dean Ashton then added: “I think he was saying it was the touch that took it away from goal, and I’m not so sure about it…“He’s very lucky, Diop, a ludicrous decision to make that challenge when there’s no way McAtee has got the pace to outrun him.“Just unbelievable to make that decision and so, so lucky for that to only be a yellow card.”View Tweet: https://t.co/2Xmo64i1XCAfter watching a few replays of the incident on the VAR monitor, Bramall decided to only give Diop a yellowGettyPremier League explanationAfter the incident, the Premier League confirmed the reasoning behind the decision to only book Diop.In a post on their Match Centre account on X, they wrote: “After VAR review for a possible denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO), the referee issued a yellow card to Diop for stopping a promising attack.”That came after Bramall said to VAR: “It’s a heavy touch, with the defender inside and he knocks the ball away from the goal – I’m going to go direct free-kick and yellow card.”He then announced in the stadium: “After review, there is a foul by Ipswich No.6. However, because the player knocks it to the right side of the goal, the final decision is direct free-kick and a yellow card to No.6”.Was it the right decision to book Diop?Diop thinks it was correct for him to not be sent off for his challenge on McAtee, revealing his thoughts post-match.He told Sky Sports: “I don’t think it’s a red. I went to tackle because I saw Leif Davis covering. He puts the ball wide and Leif was there to cover. Fortunately for Diop, he had Davis with him and McAtee’s touch was going away from goal, so he avoided a red cardGetty“I don’t think it’s a red. I was quite confident about that.”Meanwhile, Ashton admitted that Diop was lucky to not be sent off, but shared the same stance as the defender overall.He said on talkSPORT: “Davis was pretty much next to McAtee; he would have been right there with him, so to me it’s not a denial of a goalscoring opportunity as he’s right there.“If he was behind, fair enough, but he’s almost on his shoulder.“If you’re sending someone off, it has to be absolutely clear that it’s a goalscoring opportunity and it wasn’t. “Davis was there, and the touch was away from goal.”