It is being widely reported Asian Footballer of the Year nominee Nassir Al Shamrani will be handed an eight-match ban for spitting and head-butting, just hours before the award is handed out on Sunday evening.
Shamrani is favourite to take home Asian football’s most prized individual honour but if the AFC are to hand the award to Al Hilal’s hitman – the second top scorer in the Champions League this season – it will set a worrying standard from the continent’s governing body.
The Saudi Arabia international’s actions in Hilal’s final defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers earlier this month were disgraceful and wholly unjustifiable, even if the player himself vehemently defends his behaviour by claiming provocation.
Shamrani has been superb once again this season and his ability is hardly in question. But, much like Luis Suarez’s exploits on the pitch last year, he risks being remembered by the football community as a bitter, ugly frontman.
It is not the only comparison that you can draw between the two highly controversial strikers.
The pair both seem to refuse to accept blame for their actions. Suarez has always refuted the racist abuse of Patrice Evra which saw the Uruguayan fined and banned for eight matches and laughably claimed he fell into Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder at the World Cup when he was banned for biting for a third time.
Moreover, Suarez was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Player of the Year awards last season, a year after he hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons by sinking his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League game.
The Saudi man could learn from Suarez in this regard; a reputation can be repaired over time but for a player with previous it can be damaged again twice as quickly.
Hilal were left frustrated by their final defeat at the hands of the Wanderers, with numerous penalty claims turned down and a stubborn Australian outfit determined to do all they could to win a first AFC title.
This was reflected in Shamrani’s antics, which saw him first head-butt and then spit at Matthew Spiranovic. A melee ensued and the footballing world was left with a hugely disappointing snapshot of Asian football.
The 31-year-old claimed his behaviour was ‘normal’ and if the AFC are to hand him the award it will look like supporting the idea that you can do as you please on the football pitch as long as you’re scoring goals.
While Shamrani’s efforts this season may have been greater than that of his challengers, Al Ain’s Ismail Ahmed and Al Sadd’s Khalfan Ibrahim, neither of the other nominees brought the game into disrepute.
Hilal officials labelled their loss in the final as a “black spot on the history of Asian football,” with the club desperately claiming that match fixing was behind the referee’s controversial performance.
It is certainly hard to disagree with Hilal’s choice of words, albeit for entirely different reasons.
