England defender Tyrone Mings escapes punishment after landing forearm smash on Austria’s Sasa Kalajdzic

ENGLAND defender Tyrone Mings escaped punishment for an astonishing forearm smash in his own penalty area during the Euro 2020 warm-up clash with Austria.

The Aston Villa star would surely have seen red – if the ref had spotted him clattering Sasa Kalajdzic – or if there had been VAR as there will be in the tournament starting this month.

ITV

Tyrone Mings baffled and shocked observers with this challenge[/caption]

ITV

There was no sign of, or reason for, what was to come as Tyrone Mings looks back at Sasa Kalajdzic[/caption]

Mings seemed to deliberately stop and look back before flooring the inrushing striker.

And his actions seemed as bizarre as they were rash, just a day after he was selected in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the finals.

It came just before Bukayo Saka slid a 56th-minute winner for dominant England at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium.

And the reaction on social media was incredulous.

Many suggested Mings was lucky to be in the Three Lions party.

In fact, some supporters suggested his uncapped Villa team-mate Ezri Konsa would be a better option in central defence – as well as half a dozen other players.

And the harshest comment was perhaps this: “You could name 95% of cbs in the league and they’d be better.”