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The incident occurred in the final minutes of the match at the Liberty Stadium in Wales in which Swansea advanced to next month's cup final with a 2-0 aggregate win.

When the ball went out of play the ball boy, named locally as Charlie Morgan, proceeded to lay on the ball in an attempt to waste time.

With Chelsea needing two goals to have any chance of winning the two-legged tie, Hazard attempted to retrieve the ball back by kicking at the ball, and in doing so hit Morgan.

Hazard was immediately sent off for the incident by referee Chris Foy...

QPR midfielder Joey Barton, on loan at Marseille, has typically waded into the debate by taking to Twitter this morning to suggest Hazard should have gone further.

He tweeted: "Hazard only crime is he hasn't kicked him hard enough..."

Barton later updated his Twitter feed to clarify his comments, insisting he was not advocating the kicking of ball boys.

"Just re-read that last tweet and it sounds like i'm advocating kicking ballboys! Haha I was mearly trying to point out Hazard, may as well.. ..of kicked him properly for the way he is going to be punished for this. Public perception is he's volleyed him. In reality he's tried.. ..all be it in an aggressive manner to dislodge the ball from beneath him. I am strictly against the kicking of balls people. #kickitout"

He added "Hope that clears that statement up... #twistedsentiments"