2023-10-02 20:10:49
The Saudi team of Al Ittihad, where Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté play among others, was to face the Iranian team of Sepahan this Monday in the Asian Champions League. But this meeting never started and was even canceled by the Asian Confederation “due to unforeseen and unforeseeable circumstances”. If this match did not take place, it is actually because of a statue which sits in the Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium, located in the city of Isfahan.
Al Ittihad players refused to take the field in protest while a political statue was installed on the edge of the field. This represents Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general who died in 2020. Diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have been tense for many years. This match was also the first authorized since 2016 between clubs from these two countries.
Faced with the delay and then the cancellation of this match, some of the 60,000 supporters present in the stands expressed their dissatisfaction by throwing projectiles onto the pitch.
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