Dan Burn has limited sympathy for Miguel Almiron after bizarre World Cup red card

Former Newcastle United winger Miguel Almiron became the first victim of a new FIFA rule in Paraguay's World Cup win over Turkey.

Paraguay took an early lead against Turkey on Saturday and, despite the sending off of Miguel Almiron just before half-time, managed to hold on for the win.

The defeat for Turkey meant that they went crashing out of the World Cup before their final group game.

Despite that big news, it was Miguel Almiron's red card that got all the headlines, with the winger making history as the first person to be sent off under a new rule.

Players are no longer allowed to cover their mouths when speaking to opposition players in a bid to increase transparency following incidents of abuse that couldn't be fully investigated due to this action.

Dan Burn says players were made very aware of the new rule

Newcastle and England star Dan Burn faced the media ahead of the Three Lions' clash with Ghana on Tuesday and, while he had sympathy for his former Toon teammate, Burn was clear that everybody was well informed of the new rules before the tournament got underway.

"We had the referees' meeting, and they spoke about it (and) that it was going to be a red card offence.

“Obviously, I know Miggy personally, so I'd like to think that… I think it's more habit with Miggy. I've seen him do that a lot over the years in games and I do think it's one of those things where, because it's become such a 'Stop, that's not happening’.

"It's going to take a little while for some players to get used to that. But as I said, I think the refs have spoken about (it), we had a referees meeting so everyone knew the rules, so it wasn't a massive surprise. But it is still obviously something that's quite hard to get out of the habit of doing."

Miggy is in the history books

At least now Miguel Almiron will go down in history as more than the £21m player who took years to get going in the Premier League and then only had a six-month spell where he looked anywhere near reaching the potential we were promised when he came from the USA. It certainly makes for a briefer pub quiz question.

Let's just hope that lessons have been learned by the England lads and they won't make the same mistake in their remaining games.

Unless one of the centre-backs wants to do it in the last minute on Tuesday so Dan Burn can get a start at the World Cup. We'll allow that.