Barcelona Star Risks Ban After Controversial Gesture in El Clasico Celebrations

A Barcelona star may have risked receiving a ban for what he did during the celebrations of the Catalan side’s victory over Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España final in Saudi Arabia.

Hansi Flick’s side came out on top in El Clásico on Sunday evening (January 11), thanks to a Raphinha brace and a strike from Robert Lewandowski.

Barca led 2-0 in first-half stoppage time before Vinicius Junior pulled one back to make it 2-1 on 47 minutes.

But Lewandowski swiftly made it 3-1 two minutes later before Gonzalo Garcia reduced the deficit once more, making it 3-2 on 51 minutes.

Despite having an array of second-half opportunities, Xabi Alonso’s side could not level things with Barca even going down to 10 men after Frenkie de Jong was sent off for a challenge on Kylian Mbappe.

Flick’s side hung on and retained their title.

After hearing the final whistle, Barca’s players celebrated on the pitch while Real’s players left the field and cut disappointed figures.

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Mbappe was even criticised by Barca supporters for 'preventing his teammates from performing a guard of honour for the winners'.

As reported by Spanish news outlet MARCA, Mbappe ‘chose not to stay and accelerated the team's departure, avoiding witnessing the final act of the champion’.

Meanwhile, MARCA also highlighted Barcelona centre-back Pau Cubarsi’s post-match antics with a video appearing to show him gesturing towards the stands, including what the outlet described as performing “an obscene gesture”.

The gesture appeared to be a well-known obscenity used in Southern Europe and Latin America known as "bras d'honneur", which translates to English as “arm of honour”.

It is unclear if the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) will take action with the precedent set involving former Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale in 2019.

Bale performed a similar gesture with La Liga asking the RFEF to punish him for the use of a “provocative gesture” during a 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid seven years ago.

But the Welshman escaped punishment on that occasion.

It remains unclear exactly who Cubarsi was gesturing towards, but RFEF regulations state that (translated from Spanish to English) such behaviour can result in a "four to 12 match ban" if the gesture is deemed “abusive” towards match officials or sporting authorities.

The regulations also state that a financial penalty may be used as a punishment if appropriate.

Rules also explain that “notorious and public acts that undermine sporting dignity or decorum will be sanctioned as a serious offence”.

It is unclear if Cubarsi’s behaviour fell under the aforementioned categories.