AN ISRAELI PLAYER who was sent off for his goal celebration during a Nations League fixture against Austria Friday night has posted an Instagram which appears to suggest he was mimicking playing pool, rather than firing a gun.

Sayed Abu Farchi had just equalised for Israel in Linz when he ran to the corner of the pitch, pulled out the corner flag and appeared to mimic firing a gun with it.

Reuters reported that the 20-year-old appeared to mimic firing a gun, while BBC Sport also said the gesture looked to “mimic shooting a gun”.

However, Austrian broadcaster ORF reported that Abu Farchi appeared to be attempting to mimic a “billiard shot” with the flag, while acknowledging the gesture could also be interpreted as a gun being fired. Austrian outlet Heute similarly reported that the celebration was probably intended to resemble using a billiards cue.

On an Instagram post after the match, Abu Farchi reshared a photo of his goal celebration and added the eight-ball emoji, which literally represents the black eight-ball used in pool or billiards.

Abu Farchi posted the eight-ball emoji, which literally represents the black eight-ball used in pool or billiards.

The post, which was published before Abu Farchi made his Instagram account private, also included the 2023 song Y Que Fue? by Carribean rapper Don Miguelo.

Lyrics from the song played on the post, including, ‘Y Que Fue, no hiciste na’, which roughly translates from Spanish to ”And what happened? You didn’t do anything!”.