Liverpool icon Fabinho was given his marching orders on Boxing Day after VAR ruled he’d slapped Cristiano Ronaldo’s team-mate in the face.
Fabinho’s Al-Ittihad welcomed Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr to Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium on Tuesday – with Ronaldo’s side the runaway winners, victorious 5-2. However, the game was close up until the hour mark, with the score level, when Fabinho was judged to have hit out at Otavio.
The incident had initially gone unpunished, but after a VAR review, the Brazilian was handed his marching orders. One Liverpool fan remarked: “Fabinho was given a red card today. In all his years with Liverpool he was never sent off!”
“Fabinho with a soft red, VAR seems to be just as bad in every league,” a second added. While a third replied: “Lmao how is that a Red card for Fabinho?”
“Al Nassr and getting soft penalties, and to top it off Fabinho got red card too,” a fourth shared. And another added: “It’s a yellow at most!
Ronaldo converted the resulting penalty, his second spot-kick of the game – and his brace put Al-Nassr 3-2. It was another Liverpool legend, Sadio Mane, that turned it into a rout.
Mane netted a brace late in the second-half, Al-Nassr’s fourth and fifth of the game, as Al-Ittihad had no answer for the Senegalese superstar. Al-Nassr have now closed the gap at the top of the Saudi Pro League to Al-Hilal.
