The 25-year-old was handed a starting role in Genk’s crucial Europa League second-leg tie against Olympiacos.
Having lost the first leg 1-0 to the Greek side, Genk needed to win to stand any chance of advancing to the next stage of the competition.
And the Belgian side made the perfect start to the game when they were awarded a penalty after Paintsil was fouled in the box.
The Ghanaian stepped up to take the penalty but saw his effort saved. However, the referee ordered a retake after VAR spotted that Olympiacos’ goalkeeper had stepped off his line before the ball was kicked.
On his second attempt, Paintsil sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give Genk the lead. The winger would, however, go from hero to villain when he got sent off in the 65th minute.
Following a sequence of pulling and tugging with Olympiacos left-back Quini, Paintsil kicked out, leading to a scuffle.
When order was finally restored, the referee showed Quini a yellow card but sent off Paintsil for his reaction.
Playing with a man down for the final 25 minutes, Genk conceded the equaliser deep into injury time, leading to a 2-1 aggregate loss against their Greek opponents.
Paintsil and Genk will now drop to the Europa Conference League.