He could have been seriously injured there…
Jordi Alba decided to channel his inner Rivaldo on Tuesday night after Jules Koundé threw the ball at him during Sevilla’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona.
With the sides level just after the hour-mark, it appeared the Frenchman Koundé lost his cool after he became frustrated with Alba who appeared to shoulder barge him.
Instead of letting it go and moving on, the defender wasn’t having it and wanted revenge on Alba, making no subtlety about it as he threw the ball straight towards the Spanish full-back.
Kounde loses his head!😡
Straight red after throwing the ball at Jordi Alba!🤯 pic.twitter.com/AtDhNcabX8
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 21, 2021
Jordi Alba goes full Rivaldo with dive
Alba used every trick in the book as he clutched his face whilst falling to the floor dramatically to exaggerate the power of the throw, leaving the referee with no option but to send Koundé off and reduce the home side to 10-men.
Replays show that the damage to Alba’s face was minimal, with the ball in fact striking his shoulder but with a previous reputation for feigning injury, wasn’t going to let his acting skills go to waste.
The acting from Alba had shades of Rivaldo during the 2002 World Cup for Brazil when the legendary forward put in his best efforts to be nominated for the Oscars after throwing himself to the floor when a ball had been hit towards him.
Just like Alba, Rivaldo went down holding his face, when the ball was actually nowhere near his face – striking his hip instead.
Rivaldo, unsurprisingly, was able to continue after his opponent was sent off.
The red card didn’t change the result of the game at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, however.
The scoring was done with in the first-half, with Alejandro Gomez opening the scoring in the 32nd minute before Ronald Araujo equalised just before half-time.
Related links:
- Spanish journalist explains bizarre reason Gavi plays with laces undone
- Neymar somehow avoids red card after chest bumping referee
- Mats Hummels blasts Michael Oliver and VAR for “absurd” red card
