Luke O'Nien's brilliant Instagram message after Roma and Jose Mourinho clash in Sunderland friendly

In the recent friendly defeat to Roma in Portugal, the Sunderland midfielder caused a storm with a robust challenge.

Sunderland were almost reduced to ten men before the break when O'Nien clashed with Ibanez, moments after he'd seen yellow for a crunching challenge on Stephen El Shaarawy.

That saw Jose Mourinho enter the field to remonstrate; the referee swiftly telling head coach Alex Neil to make a sub.

Reacting on his Instagram page, O’Nien posted on Saturday night: “'Mrs: Shall we go to Rome for our Honeymoon?'

'Me: I think we will give Rome a miss for a while!'

Neil said at the time: “Well, when you're given the option of making a substitution or playing with ten men in this heat, I don't think the latter is going to do anyone any good.

"I thought it was a bit of an overreaction for the second one.

"He goes to try to win the header, and he gets a push so his arm naturally goes up. I thought it was accidental, there was no malice in it.

"To be fair, they handled it fairly well [in the end]."

Sunderland beat Dundee United on Saturday night as their pre-season preparations continue.

Sunderland travel to Bradford City Tuesday, Accrington Stanley next weekend ahead of the final game with Hartlepool United next week, ahead of the season opener against Coventry City at the Stadium of Light a week on Sunday.

Neil will be hoping to add further signings to his squad before the Coventry clash.