A controversial refereeing incident

A refereeing incident sparked major controversy during the match between Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal and Qatar's Al-Shamal in the AFC Champions League Elite.

Al-Hilal lost 3-1 to Al-Shamal on Tuesday at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, in the third round of the league phase of the Asian tournament.

Trouble flared at the start of the second half. Al-Hilal's players demanded a red card for Al-Shamal's Nassim Ben Issa, claiming he had pulled the hair of French star Simon Bouabre in midfield. The referee waved play on.

Egyptian refereeing expert Mohamed Kamal Rishaa backed that call, insisting the Al-Shamal player did not deserve a red card for the foul.

Speaking to the Saudi newspaper "Al-Riyadiah", Rishaa said: "In the incident of Nassim Ben Issa, the Qatari Al-Shamal player, pulling the hair of Simon Bouabre, the Al-Hilal player, the contact began with a shirt pull, before Ben Issa's hand reached the end of Bouabre's hair at the close of the contact with a slight, ineffective tug that carried no force."

He concluded: "The referee is to be faulted for not showing a deserved caution to the Al-Shamal player for the holding, but the offence does not rise to the level of a sending-off."

Real Madrid's Brazilian star Vinicius Junior was sent off for the same reason during the clash with Villarreal, in the eighth round of the Spanish league.