Referee Robert Jones dismissed Leeds midfielder towards the end of the first half at Portman Road following an off-the-ball incident with Ipswich left-back Jonas Knudsen. 

Footage appears to show O’Kane strike Knudsen with an arm but Christiansen claims his man was provoked.

“The opponent went to him, they touched each other,” he said. 

“It was him that came and provoked him.”

He added: “I have seen a video.

“My son also saw there and okay I trust my son and the photographs.

“From the point of view where the camera is there is no sign of doing it.”

WATCH: The moment Eunan O’Kane clashes with Jonas Knudsen and sees red

When asked if he plans to appeal to the FA, Christiansen said: “I hope so, there’s no evidence that he goes to him, he just faced him and when there’s a contact.

“It’s a provocation, he wanted that and he got that. The referee fall into that.”

Leeds were on top before O’Kane’s dismissal but it was Ipswich who claimed all three points thanks to Manchester City loanee Bersant Celina’s second-half goal.

Christiansen believes his side would have won had they not lost O’Kane, and he said: “At the half time my message was the same, we want to take the three points and we believed in that.

“That was the spirit of the team, fighting the last 48 minutes of the second half but was not enough, every played did what they had and for me there is no complaining.

“If we play 11 against 11, we win for sure.”

He added: “I am proud of the players, everyone can see we did not to deserve to lose this game.

“It was a nice goal but perhaps we can defend that better.”