Saied Abu Farchi was bizarrely sent off on Thursday night during the Nations League match between Austria and Israel. The 20-year-old forward celebrated his equaliser with the corner flag, appearing to use it as a rifle, or at least that was how Bulgarian referee Georgi Kabakov saw it, before showing him a red card soon after. It has since emerged that Abu Farchi was imitating something entirely different.
Abu Farchi made it 1-1 in the 55th minute, heading in a cross. He then grabbed the corner flag during his celebration and made 'a shooting gesture' with it, prompting Kabakov to step in.
Kabakov had already booked Abu Farchi three minutes earlier for a foul. He then showed the Israeli a second yellow for the celebration, sending him off.
Israel had to play the rest of the match with 10 men. Austria only turned that numerical advantage into goals late on and won 3-1 in Linz.
Austria's decisive second goal arrived in the 90th minute. PSV midfielder Paul Wanner set up left-back Phillipp Mwene, who was previously under contract at PSV and now plays for FSV Mainz.
Then, deep into stoppage time, Austria made sure of the win. Striker Sasa Kalajdzic scored in the 95th minute to make it 3-1, leaving Israel with nothing after the red card.
This was only Abu Farchi's second appearance for the Israel national team. He made his international debut at the start of June with a brief substitute outing against Albania and scored for his country for the first time against Austria.
On 1 September, the 20-year-old striker completed a move to Colorado Rapids. The MLS club paid €5 million to Maccabi Tel Aviv, where Abu Farchi scored 15 goals in 52 matches.
Correction: Abu Farchi did not make a shooting gesture
Fresh information has cast Abu Farchi's remarkable red card in a different light. Although it was first reported that the 20-year-old forward used the corner flag to imitate a rifle, his celebration was actually inspired by snooker.
After scoring his equaliser, Abu Farchi grabbed the corner flag, dropped to one knee and used the flag as if it were a snooker cue. The Israeli has used that celebration before and previously wrote about it on social media: "It is all a snooker celebration."
Ran Ben Shimon also insisted afterwards that there was no shooting gesture. "Abu Farchi celebrates all his goals in this way, you can check that. Perhaps it was my mistake that I did not tell him he had to stop doing it. He has to learn from this. It is also a big lesson for us," the national coach told Austrian media.