Roberto Mancini threatens trouble as Saudi Arabia national football coach after heading to the locker room before the final shot during a penalty shootout loss to South Korea in the Asian Cup round of 16. This was “completely unacceptable” behavior, said Saudi Football Association president Yasser Al-Misehal.

“We will discuss with him why this happened. Mancini has the right to express his point of view and then we will decide on appropriate measures,” Al-Misehal told Saudi broadcaster SSC. Mancini apologized for leaving the field, stating that he thought “the game was already over.”

Mancini criticizes the players

But that was not all. Mancini did not see Hee-Chan Hwang's decisive penalty. After 1:1 in extra time South Korea Under coach Jürgen Klinsmann they won the penalty shoot-out 4-2 and will now face Australia in the quarter-finals on Friday (16:30 CET, live on DAZN).

Mancini recently complained publicly about the morale of his selected players. Three nominated professionals demanded a guaranteed starting eleven in order to give their consent for the Asian Cup match against Oman. “Something like this had never happened to me before,” criticized Mancini.

Mancini took over as national coach in Saudi Arabia last August and signed a lucrative contract. Therefore, he resigned from his position in Italy, which he led to the Euro Cup title in 2021. For this reason, he was harshly criticized in his home country.