Wayne Rooney sent off for stupid kick on Stewart Downing

Manchester United (and England) captain Wayne Rooney was shown a straight red card for kicking Stewart Downing in the 60th minute of his side's match against West Ham. It was very dumb.

In an desperate attempt to stop Downing from mouting a counter attack, Rooney kicked him in the thigh from behind. It made the referee's decision an easy one.

Rooney started off the match much better, though. He opened the scoring in just the fifth minute to help his team take a 2-1 lead into halftime, but this being a Man United match in the post-Ferguson era, they could not go an entire 90 minutes without a fright.

Man United weathered the final 30 minutes with 10 men and won 2-1. The three-match ban Rooney will have to serve for his first red card at the club level since 2009 will keep him out of matches against Everton, West Brom and Chelsea.

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Brooks Peck is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter! Follow @BrooksDT

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