"It doesn’t matter whether you played the ball or not. If playing the ball nevertheless carries your trajectory naturally into the man, then at best it’s careless and you might concede a free kick, or if it’s deemed a reckless challenge you could get a yellow or at least a verbal warning, and if it’s a deliberate attempt to hit the man it’ll be at least a yellow card. The excuse “He played the ball, not the man” used to work every time as long as you hit the ball first but that is no longer necessarily the case. It’s all about the likely outcome of the attempt. If the nature of the challenge was such that contact with the man was inevitable due to your trajectory then it’s a foul, but if you win the ball and the player you just dispossessed carries on running into your space and you clash, most refs would consider that he no longer owns the space because he’s not in possession of the ball and could possibly have jumped over you so it’s not your fault. Also, if you attempt to play the ball but mis-time your challenge and accidentally hit the man instead, that’s also a foul and the referee’s decision as to whether it was careless or reckless will depend on his assessment of the likelihood of success."