Former United States International and Aston Villa keeper Brad Friedel had his highly suspect Red Card against Liverpool at the weekend looked over by the FA and justly decided to overturn the mandatory ban, clearing him for the upcoming Villa vs Manchester United match.

Via DailyMail

An FA panel accepted the goalkeeper’s appeal over his dismissal for a challenge on Fernando Torres, which led to a penalty at Anfield during Liverpool’s 5-0 romp on Sunday.

Villa were already trailing 4-0 when Friedel was dismissed by Martin Atkinson for bringing down the Spain striker inside the area after 65 minutes.

However, the American argued he went for a 50-50 ball and had nowhere else to go after Torres got their first.

Suspension would have brought an end to the U.S. keeper’s Barclays Premier League appearance record of 182 successive games.

‘I’ve seen the sending off from a better angle and, from Brad’s point of view, I don’t think he’s gone out and made a deliberate attempt to upend him,’ said O’Neill.

‘In fact, quite the opposite. When Torres touched the ball on, Brad realised he wasn’t going to get it and actually made himself smaller.

‘The fact is that the referee interpreted it as a penalty and added the sending off on top of that.’