One gesture, one instant dismissal
Christophe Galtier lost it. On Sunday, during NEOM’s trip to Al-Fateh, the French coach aimed an obscene gesture at someone on the home bench. The referee saw all of it and did not deliberate: straight red, and Galtier was in the stands before the final whistle.
Clips were everywhere within hours, and it became the image of the Saudi weekend. It also pulled an old file back open. Galtier’s touchline conduct has been watched, and occasionally punished, for the better part of a decade.
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Four days earlier, he was dancing
Galtier is 60 and has been around. He won Ligue 1 with Lille in 2021, having already made his name at Saint-Etienne, and went on to Nice and Paris Saint-Germain before taking the job in the Gulf.
His NEOM start had been going well. The improvised dance after beating Al-Hilal, one of the division’s heavyweights, had done the rounds on social media only days before. Same coach, same intensity, two very different clips.
NEOM may be without him next round
A sending-off normally brings a touchline ban for the following match while the disciplinary panel decides on the rest. NEOM came up to the Saudi top flight this season and are still working out what they are at this level. Doing that with an empty seat in the dugout does not help.
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