Israeli footballer shown red card for celebrating with gun-firing gesture

The moment of celebrating a goal suddenly became a reason for punishment!

After scoring a goal in the UEFA Nations League match against Austria last night, Israeli forward Sayed Abu Farkhi picked up the corner flag and celebrated with a gun-firing gesture. For that celebration, he was shown a second yellow card, followed by a red card.

The match at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz was exciting from the start. Austria took the lead in the 43rd minute through a penalty by Romano Schmid. After the break, 20-year-old Abu Farkhi equalised for Israel in the 55th minute with a superb header.

Then the much-discussed incident occurred.

After the goal, Abu Farkhi ran to the corner flag and picked it up. He then held the flagpole like a gun and celebrated with a firing gesture.

Just four minutes earlier, the forward had been shown a yellow card. He was then shown a second yellow card and sent off the field by Bulgarian referee Georgi Kabakov for the controversial celebration.

Israel, down to 10 men, ultimately could not hold on. Philipp Mwene scored in the 90th minute and Sasa Kalajdzic scored in added time as Austria won 3-1.