Cristiano Ronaldo pushed for coach sacking and Palestine political saga - Middle East Round-up

Tunisian footballer Nizar Issaoui died last week, after setting himself on fire to protest "police injustice", his family said.
Last Monday, a video of Issaoui, 35, an amateur footballer and a former player for top-flight side US Monastir was circulating on Facebook, where he said that he had decided to protest after he was falsely accused of “terrorism” by local police in Haffouz, Tunisia.

The forward, who had scored 14 goals in the Tunisian Ligue 1 in his career, had complained about the price of bananas, which cost double the price set by the government.

According to reports, he had an argument with the fruit seller, which sparked the allegations of "terrorism" from the police, which ultimately led to his protest outside a police station, setting himself on fire.
The forward suffered from severe wounds with third-degree burns and died from his injuries on Thursday, and his funeral saw clashes between his friends, relatives, and the police.

This incident reminds the Tunisians of Mohamed Bouazizi, the street merchant who set himself on fire in 2010, triggering the Arab Spring. 

This incident is part of a growing phenomenon in Tunisia under the regime of President Kais Saeid, who has reportedly weakened the Tunisian judicial system, drowning the police in internal social turmoil.

L’ex-footballeur Nizar Issaoui qui s'est immolé par le feu, lundi dernier, devant le poste de police de la délégation de Haffouz (gouvernorat de Kairouan), est décédé, ce jeudi soir, à  l'hôpital des grands brûlés de Ben Arous.

الله يَرْحَمُهُ 🤲🏼

إنّا لله و إنّا إليه راجعون pic.twitter.com/U4vlIQxcEx

— Les Aigles de Carthage 🦅🇹🇳 (@LADCOfficiel) April 14, 2023

Unhappy Cristiano Ronaldo is pushing to change Al Nassr's season

Last week, Al Nassr Riyadh sacked their head coach Rudi Garcia.

Sources at the club mentioned that their star player, one Cristiano Ronaldo, was unhappy with the Frenchman's tactics and playing style, and together with other prominent members of the squad pushed for the termination of the coach's contract.

Despite mentioning some big-name coaches, such as Jose Mourinho, as potential replacements, the U19 coach, Dinko Jelicic, has taken caretaker charge.

The first game after Garcia’s toppling, allegedly didn’t go according to CR7’s plan. In the derby against Al Hilal, the Portuguese star was frustrated throughout the 90 minutes, with VAR cancelling his goal, and a yellow card he succumbed after a clash with Al Hilal’s Gustavo Cuellar. At the end Al Nassr lost 0-2 to their arch-rivals, who enjoyed a penalties brace by Odion Ighalo. The Nigerian is Saudi Pro League’s top scorer currently with 18 goals.

Next week, with a victory against Al Shabab, league leaders Al Ittihad can open a six-point gap from Ronaldo and the Nassrawys at the top of table, and make a massive step towards a first championship title since 2009.

Rudi Garcia has left Al Nassr due to his bad relationship with the squad ❌🇸🇦

This means Cristiano Ronaldo has now seen seven managerial exits since 2019 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XGv3pOWFdj

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) April 13, 2023

Shabab Al Khaleel are out of the Arab Cup after a political saga 

Palestinian club Shabab Al Khaleel was supposed to host Omani team Al Nahada for the second leg of the Arab Club Championship last week.

But, yet again, Palestinian football was infected by politics. 

Twenty-four hours before the game, the Arab Football Union decided to move the game to Jordan, mainly due to the tensions in the West Bank during Ramadan.

The Palestinian team refused and asked to hold the game in Hebron as planned.

Despite the closure imposed on the West Bank during Passover, the Palestinian FA produced entry approvals for the Omani delegation via the Israeli authorities, but the Omanis decided not to come.

The game was called off with a mandatory 3-0 loss to the Palestinians, that once again saw the political situation interrupting their football aspirations - if not by Israel authorities or security forces, now by an Arab team.

This incident might hint at a bigger picture.

In the past decade, we've seen a growth in visits of football delegations to the West Bank - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and others - but, with the current situation between Israel and the Palestinians, Arab sports delegations prefer not to cross the Allenby crossing.

Edited by Alex Smith

Being a #Palestinian footballer today, means that either you suffer from a brutal Israeli interference, or from a sad Arab indifference.

Are the days of Arab national teams and clubs playing in the #WestBank are over?

I spoke with @laura_i24 for @i24NEWS_EN pic.twitter.com/83p5HAt0uq

— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) April 17, 2023