Scandal in the Saudi Super Cup
Spectator hits Benzema’s teammate with a whip
April 12, 2024, 4:44 p.m
Abderrazak Hamdallah scores for his team in the Saudi Super Cup, later the Moroccan is the victim of a nasty attack: After a verbal argument, a spectator hits the teammate of the superstars Neymar and Karim Benzema – with a whip.
After moving to Real Madrid, Luís Figo was once pelted with a pig’s head by angry FC Barcelona supporters as he tried to take a corner. Oliver Kahn was hit in the head by a golf ball during a game in Freiburg. And again and again, beer cups, lighters and bottles of schnapps fly around the ears of football players when angry spectators can no longer control themselves.
At the final of the Saudi Super Cup, the anger in the audience reached a new dimension. After the ultimately rather one-sided game between Al-Hilal from Riyadh and Al-Ittihad from Jeddah (4:1), which was not played in Saudi Arabia, but in the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates a player whipped by a visitor.
The target of the attack in front of the Brazilian superstar Neymar, who was paid by Al-Hilal but is currently injured, was Abderrazak Hamdallah: The striker plays alongside Karim Benzema at Al-Ittihad. When the Moroccan international, the scorer of the interim equalizer, wanted to go from the field to the locker room after the game, there was a confrontation with a spectator shortly before the entrance to the catacombs.
Videos circulating on the Internet show a man in the stands initially shouting something to Hamdallah. The player reacts and also splashes a water bottle. The spectator then pulls out a whip and swings it twice in the direction of Hamdallah. The security service then intervened in the stands, and Hamdallah was protected and held back by his teammates.
There had already been a scandal in the semi-finals of the Saudi Super Cup – due to Cristiano Ronaldo. When his club Al-Nassr lost to Al-Hilal (0-2), the Portuguese first attacked his opponent Ali Al-Bulaihi shortly before the final whistle. After referee Mohammed Khaled Al-Hoaish showed Ronaldo red, he threatened him with a raised fist.