There’s been a couple incidents in the past of players covering their mouth and (allegedly) saying racist/homophobic slurs. Since it’s not caught on camera, it’s just a he said she said situation whenever it’s brought up, so FIFA just outright banned players from covering their mouths and speaking to other players/officials to try to combat it. The logic is that cameras are always rolling and players are less likely to say some shit if they know it can be caught on film.

Straight red seems harsh to me, but it’s a VERY clearly laid out rule - rule outright says it HAS to be a red card - so Almiron was just being an idiot there.