Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes Dele Alli was lucky not to cause KAA Gent's Brecht Dejaegere serious damage after the England man's horror-tackle in Spurs' 2-2 Europa League draw on Thursday.
Alli's was shown a straight red card in the 39th minute, as he lunged high into Dejaegere, leaving Spurs with 10 men in the second leg of a tie they eventually lost to the Belgians 3-2 on aggregate.
It was not the first time Alli has fallen foul of the law. He was lucky to escape punishment for kicking out at Fiorentina defender Nenad Tomovic in the Europa League last year and was banned for three matches in April after punching West Brom's Claudio Yacob in the Premier League.
And Redknapp says Alli's reckless streak must come to an end.
"[Alli] could have finished a fella's career. He could have finished a boy's career. There's no doubt. It was that bad,'' Redknapp said on BT Sport.
"He could have broken the lad's leg, snapped his leg, and that would have been the end.
"He's got to cut that out of his game. He's got that streak in him. I rave about the boy but that tackle is horrendous.''
Alli's challenge was also criticised by former Tottenham midfielder and manager Glenn Hoddle.
"It's undefendable,'' Hoddle said. "You can't defend that. It was a reaction, a poor reaction to losing the ball, not getting the foul. You can't do that on a football pitch. Not nowadays.''
Tottenham's defeat means they have now failed to go past the quarterfinals of the Europa League, or its equivalent UEFA Cup, in any of their nine attempts in the last 10 years.
Any chance of silverware would now appear to rest solely on the FA Cup, where Spurs play Millwall in the last eight.
They take on Stoke at White Hart Lane on Sunday, looking to reduce a 10-point gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea.