The former Ajax, Real Madrid and Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder has thrown a royal strop in his new footballing home of Qatar.
Sneijder, 34, is now playing his trade Al-Gharafa, who are based in the famed footballing hotbed of Al Rayyan, and made a match-winning contribution to his side’s visit to Qatar SC yesterday, in a game that they won 2-0 in front of a rapturous home crowd.
But Sneijder saw red in the dying embers of this Qatar Stars League encounter and was less than happy about it. Trudging off the field after being given his marching orders, the Dutchman fixed his eyes on an unidentified figure out of shot and said.
“This is the last game I play in Qatar!” he shouts while slipping his captain’s armband off.
But any prospective reports that Sneijder might be about to pack his bags and run away from his €4.5m contract might be premature.
He took to social media himself to release the following statement:
“While playing a football match I reacted in the heat of the moment to a red card I did not deserve. However, to counter any false media speculations: I enjoy living and playing football in Qatar!”
Accompanied, as it is, by a face of the smiley Sneijder, he must have thought the better of abandoning his lucrative deal in the gulf on a whim.
Sneijder has won league titles in four separate countries and could make it five with Al-Gharafa.