Al-Ahli fans stunned their own player with a surprise move, whistling at him throughout the match against Al-Riyadh in the Roshn Saudi League.
The hosts welcomed Al-Riyadh on Friday at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium, in the fifth round of the Roshn Saudi League.
From the first whistle, Al-Ahli supporters targeted their Ukrainian player Artem Bondarenko, jeering every time he touched the ball.
The whistling followed the players off the pitch at half-time, even with the side three goals to the good. It angered the Al-Ahli players, who urged the fans to back their teammate.
Bondarenko's arrival had already sparked a fierce campaign among Al-Ahli fans before he signed from Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk. They demanded the club scrap the deal, insisting they wanted players of a higher calibre.
That anger carried into the Ukrainian's first appearance, which also brought the team's first defeat of the season, a 1-3 loss to Al-Khaleej in the fourth round of the Roshn League.
Roy Pedro, Al-Ahli's former sporting director, took the brunt of the criticism over the Bondarenko signing. The Saudi club announced his departure yesterday, Thursday.