took the unusual step of trying to stop an opponent being sent off, as Serge Aurier saw red in Ivory Coast’s defeat to England at Wembley.
The former Tottenham full-back, and the captain of the Elephants, was shown two yellow cards in the first half, the second coming on 40 minutes for dissent.
Ivory Coast were already 1-0 down and went on to lose 3-0 as the second half of the friendly became something of a damp squib.
Grealish wanted Aurier to stay on the field and make the friendly more of a challenge for the young England team, which could have seen them learn more about themselves.
He made his feelings known to Erik Lambrechts, but the Belgian ref had already made up his mind.
‘I wanted him to stay on, because it’s like a friendly innit,’ Grealish told Sky Sports.
‘You get a bit more from playing against 11 men. It would have been more of a challenge for us.
‘I said to the ref, “Come on like, let him stay on.” But when the ref had give him his second yellow, he wasn’t going to go back on it.
‘That was just my thinking on it. I just wanted him to stay on really, just so it would be a tougher test for us.’
Grealish also revealed a cheeky conversation with Raheem Sterling after he set up his Manchester City teammate for the second goal of the night.
It was an excellent pass from Grealish to set-up the England captain, but the former Aston Villa man wanted the favour returned at times.
‘I said to Raz, “Is there any chance of you passing to me? Is there any danger?”‘ Grealish said with a smile.
‘I’m just happy to get goals and assists, because they’ve been a bit difficult to come by at City.
‘Obviously since I’ve been here [with England] I’ve had quite a few assists, I just want to keep contributing and playing well because I really, really enjoy it.’
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