JEDDAH, 16 May 2005 — Brazilian international Sergio Ricardo will be sacked by Al-Ittihad in the aftermath of a strange incident Saturday night involving the Ittihad striker and his brother, sources say.
Sources from the club say that Ittihad president Mansour Al-Balawi is expected to issue a decision preterminating the contract of the erring player.
At Ittihad’s training session Sergio Ricardo and his unnamed brother engaged in a fight with a fellow player and a Saudi fan. The strange incident started between Sergio and Hamad Al-Essa. Both players were playing hard against each other, and for some reason their aggressive play led to a fight. Efforts to end the dispute between the two players failed and the Ittihad coach had to end the training session.
A fan shouted at Sergio on his way out, and his brother reacted and punched him on the face. Sergio jumped in to support his brother but Ittihad fans tried to calm down the hot-tempered Brazilian duo. The injured fan was taken to the club clinic. The brother of the injured fan threatened to report the incident to the police and sue Sergio for attacking his brother.
The incident has reached Al-Balawi and sources say such a bad behavior will not be tolerated by the club.
Some eyewitnesses were shocked when the player jumped over the fence and charged toward the fan to beat him up. They considered this a very strange sign of disrespect. Fans urged the Ittihad administration to fire the player and set an example that whoever attacks a fan is attacking the whole club and that the administration should deal with it seriously.
