Footballer despatched off after he determined to slap his personal team-mate in odd scenes
A player in the Turkish top flight was shown a straight red card for slapping his own team-mate as his side found themselves 2-0 down after just 10 minutes
A Turkish Super League player was sent off for slapping his team-mate in bizarre scenes.
Kayserispor’s Stephane Bahoken was shown a straight red card just 23 minutes into the game away against Sivasspor, with the visitors 2-0 up at the time in a lightning start.
The 32-year-old Cameroon international was evidently frustrated with Kayserispor’s performance in the game at the point and lost his control when he confronted team-mate Miguel Cardoso for giving away a free-kick in a dangerous position.
The two players got in each other’s faces and went forehead to forehead during their spat. Bahoken then pushed Cardoso away before slapping him across the cheek.
The blow wasn’t enough to send Cardoso to the turf, but left him calling out to his other team-mates off camera. Despite being on the same team, the referee had no option but to brandish the red card and send Bakohen off for violent conduct.
The incident left Kayserispor with an even bigger mountain to climb, which they were ultimately unable to do. The hosts took the game away to win 5-2, while Kayserispor also had Joseph Larweh Attamah sent off later in the game for two yellow card offences.
Fans drew comparisons to the most infamous sending-off for violent conduct between two team-mates, when Newcastle pair Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were both shown red for throwing punches at each other on the pitch in 2005.
Newcastle fined Bowyer a record six weeks’ wages for his part in the on-pitch fight during the Magpies’ 3-0 defeat by Aston Villa at St James’ Park. He was banned for seven games by the FA, while Dyer received a three-game ban but escaped internal punishment.
“This makes the Bower and Dyer look like a boxing main event,” one fan on X quipped. A second expressed their bafflement with Bakohen’s action and called for the Cameroonian to be banned, they wrote: “Should be fined and be banned from playing a few games by his club. How could you slap your teammate, it baffles me?!”
Kayserispor are currently 17th in the Super Lig, five points adrift from safety. While Sivasspor’s victory was their first in eight league games, they moved to 12th place – seven points clear of the drop.
