Football's worst fights: Four red cards shown in Sporting KC 2-1 Colorado

Approaching the hour mark of Wednesday evening’s MLS clash between Sporting Kansas City and the Colorado Rapids, referee Drew Fischer had yet to produce a single yellow card.

Kansas led 2-1 at that point – and, while the scoreline didn’t change before the final whistle, the temperature of the match itself certainly did.

Shortly after the game went into an indicated four additional minutes of stoppage time, Colorado’s Auston Trusty was shown his second caution of the evening, quickly followed by a red card, for a poorly-timed challenge.

Just minutes later, a full-scale brawl erupted after Kansas goalscorer Daniel Salloi petulantly kicked out at Colorado’s Nicolas Mezquida.

Mezquida’s colleague Lucas Esteves wasn’t happy with Salloi’s conduct – and earned himself a red card of his own when he shoved the Kansas man to the ground in the aftermath.

In the same fracas, Kansas centre-back Andreu Fontas became the third man to be given his marching orders as a result of violent conduct.

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Somehow amid all the bad blood, Salloi managed to stay on the field, despite being the man to start the melee.

He didn’t see the end of the game, though.

With the match now in its ninth minute of second-half stoppage-time, Salloi gave the referee no option but to dismiss him when he grabbed an opponent’s throat directly in front of the official.

Of all four red cards, this final example was the most blatant of them all

You can check out the chaos for yourself below.

90+1'—Auston Trusty sent off for two yellows90+6'—Andreu Fontàs sent off90+6'—Lucas Esteves sent off90+9'—Dániel Sallói sent offThe ending of Sporting KC vs. Colorado Rapids was wild