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Gareth McAuley red card: Five worst cases of mistaken identity

After Gareth McAuley was wrongly given his marching orders on Saturday, we decided to take a look at the worst cases of mistaken identity in football.

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Craig Dawson will now miss the Baggies' clash with QPR on April 4 after the FA corrected referee Neil Swarbrick's red-card blunder at Manchester City.

The outcry for video technology to be brought into the Premier League has escalated over the weekend with the topic expected to be addressed again this summer.

The Top Five

5. Kieran Gibbs - Arsenal

Andre Marriner dropped the ball in a big way after he confused Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Kieran Gibbs in a crucial game with Chelsea last season

The referee later said he was 'disappointed' with himself at the error. But he wasn't half as disappointed as Arsene Wenger as the Gunners lost 6-0 on the day.

4. Wes Brown - Sunderland

Roger East had a shocker at Old Trafford last month mistaking one ex-United player for another. Wes Brown was given his marching orders instead of fellow centre-back John O'Shea after the Ireland international brought down Radamel Falcao in the box.

The situation was thrown into more disarray after Brown's red card was rescinded immediately, but O'Shea was not given the suspension due to East including the incident in his match report.

Both then played in the subsequent game against Hull City, they drew 1-1.

3. Brede Hangeland - Fulham

You would think two extra officials in a Europa league tie would make it virtually impossible for the wrong man to be sent off - not so.

Belgian referee Paul Allaerts had an excellent view of Stephen Kelly's challenge on John Arne Riise and rightly awarded a red card and a penalty. Kelly, however, stayed on the pitch while Brede Hangeland was the man who was told to leave.

2. Beef - Real Madrid

You may not have heard of Real Madrid's Beef, but he's a very useful forward on FIFA 2015 in season seven. Even the best technology can get it wrong sometimes, so maybe we're better off with referee's anyway?

In this shocking piece of footage, it's clearly Elm who is the man with the woeful hack. Even the robots get it wrong.

1. Josip Simunic - Croatia

Oh dear Graham Poll. An illustrious career that will be forever remembered for one shocking mistake (or maybe three). Although this is not technically a case of mistaken identity, it easily tops our list.

Probably the simplest thing about being a referee is two yellow cards equals one red.

Sadly it seems Poll didn't get that memo.

During a 2006 World Cup game, Croatian defender Josip Simunic was booked just after the hour, only to then be carded again in the 89th minute.

But while that would usually trigger an early bath, Poll didn't send him from the field.

Simunic wasn't content though and made sure he got his marching orders, receiving a third - and then a red - at the final whistle.

It's the first time a player has received three yellows in a competitive game.

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