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Jordan Henderson inserted himself into a mid-match scuffle as Ajax's Europa League clash against Union Saint-Gilloise turned ugly.
Ajax required only a draw to progress to the last 16 after securing a 2-0 win in the first leg of their play-off clash.
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Boosting the Dutch giants' chance of a result was the fact they'd be roared on by a vociferous home support in the second leg.
However, hopes of an easy passage to the next stage of the Europa League took a blow when Kevin Mac Allister, brother of Liverpool star Alexis, put the Belgian side ahead in the 16th minute.
Ajax's task of holding on became even more difficult just nine minutes later when Davy Klaassen was shown a straight red card for a handball on the goal line, gifting USG a chance to equalise from the spot.
Promise Akinpelu made no mistake with his penalty as he sent Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer the wrong way to level the tie.
Tensions soon boiled over early in the second half when Akinpelu fouled Ajax's Jorthy Mokio.
USG's Sofiane Boufal was left surprised at the decision to award a foul and picked up the ball, only for Anton Gaaei to try and snatch it from his hands.
Gaaei then pushed his head into Boufal's chest as the two briefly grappled.
The scuffle then moved in front of the benches as players from both sides rushed over.
Henderson, who began the game on the bench, moved in the direction of Boufal but was forcefully shoved back by a USG member.
A clip of Henderson gesturing with his hand as if to say his rivals talked too much was soon shown.
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Referee Chris Kavanagh, who is a Premier League official, brandished yellow cards for Gaaei, Boufal and former Portsmouth defender Christian Burgess - now at USG - for their respective roles in the fracas.
Henderson, who was on the bench during the incident, also went into Kavanagh's book.
Henderson was brought on in the 90th minute of the second leg despite being on a yellow with the tie heading for extra time.
Things improved for Ajax early in extra time with Kenneth Taylor scoring in the 93rd minute to put the Dutch giants 3-2 up on aggregate.
Henderson's yellow is his seventh of the season and second of Ajax's Europa League campaign.
Unfortunately for Henderson, it wasn't his first negative encounter with Kavanagh.
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Kavanagh was in the crosshairs of former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp as he controversially awarded a penalty during a Merseyside derby encounter at Anfield in February 2021, a game in which Henderson filled in at centre-back due to an injury crisis.
Everton prevailed 2-0 thanks to goals from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson to make it four successive home defeats for the Reds in the 2020/21 season.
It also marked the Toffees' first derby win at Anfield since September 1999.
Sigurdsson's goal came from the penalty spot after Dominic Calvert-Lewin went down in the box when colliding with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Kavanagh was asked to review the incident via the pitchside monitor, but Klopp was not happy at the speed at which he operated at.
"I really think it is unfair to ask me as everyone has asked me that question, which means everyone thought it wasn't a penalty," Klopp said.
"I wanted to talk to the ref after my first few interviews but they left already. I wanted to ask what did he see?
"If he is called over there must be doubt but he needed only a second. He went over, watched it from three or four yards and 'penalty.'"
