No, what you refuse to acknowledge is that the referee has to judge that no attempt was made to win the ball. As can be clearly seen in that GIF, the player is doing everything he can to win the ball. A red card is for when a player makes no attempt for the ball and just swipes out the player.
It's perfectly possible to win a tackle from behind without fouling the player. It's just incredibly difficult and takes impeccable timing. When your only hope is to make that perfect challenge, you go for it.
You can cleanly go between the player's legs and poke the ball away. That's perfectly legal and not unusual at all, he tried and he failed.
It's only a deliberate foul if the player clearly made no attempt for the ball. The rules refer to:
"holding, pulling or pushing, not playing the ball or having no possibility to play the ball, serious foul play, violent conduct or deliberate handball.".
None of these count in this case. He wasn't holding him, pulling him, pusing him, he tried to play the ball and there was a slim chance he could nick it, it wasn't foul play, violet or a handball.
Have you ever played football or watched football in your life? Extending an arm like that in a tackle is literally the most normal thing ever. He doesn't grab him, not does he attempt to so it doesn't matter.