Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
Video Credit: Golders
This football fan has been slammed online for celebrating his team’s goal by grabbing his young son by the ankle and flinging him around in the air in a video which has gone viral.
The fan, who has not been named by local media, was celebrating the third goal in Brazilian side Flamengo’s 5-0 victory in their Copa Libertadores semi-final second leg against Gremio at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium.
Rodrigo Barbosa, known as Gabigol, scored a penalty in the 56th minute after Bruno Henrique was fouled in the penalty box by Gremios centre-back Pedro Geromel.
The video, which has been viewed over 1.1 million times, shows the moment after Barbosa converts the penalty when the supporter is standing in front of a television holding a young boy by his ankle. The fan waves the youngster around in the air, shaking the boy.
Local media report the child is his son, although it is unclear how old the unnamed boy is.
In the background, people can be heard laughing as he yells at the top of his lungs in celebration.
A woman can then be seen taking the child away from the man however he continues his celebration yelling in front of the television and grabbing hold of his crotch as the person filming him is heard laughing at his reaction.
Netizens slammed the fan’s behaviour, such as ‘BriatOro’ who wrote: “Piece of s**t”
And ‘arnaldo_pardo’ said: “I do not know what bothers me more, that this guy shakes the boy like that, or that the girl, who I am assuming is the kid’s mother, is laughing.”
‘mechamojuau’ wrote: “This is serious, he could have caused the child a serious injury!”
While ‘Romenigue7’ wrote: “He almost killed him.”
The victory gave Flamengo a spot in the Copa Libertadores final to be played on 23rd November against Argentine side River Plate.
It is scheduled to be played in the Chilean capital city Santiago, however, there have been reports of potentially changing the venue due to civil unrest in the city.
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