Cardiff's Krystian Bielik facing lengthy ban after shocking altercation with young fan that halted game

A shocking incident involving Cardiff City defender Krystian Bielik and a young Portsmouth fan has become a huge talking point on social media.

On Saturday afternoon, Cardiff's agonising search for a Championship victory this season went on as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth, a fifth game in which they have failed to secure maximum points

Frustration about their second loss of the season may have got to Krystian Bielik, who was involved in an altercation with a supporter that may lead to a lengthy ban for the Polish international after it brought the match to a halt.

Krystian Bielik’s altercation with young fan goes viral

Cardiff were trailing Portsmouth 2-0 when the incident occurred in the 72^nd minute, which led to a three-minute stoppage in play.

As seen in the footage below, the 11-cap Polish international made his way towards the boy, looking for the ball, but the individual opted to throw the ball past the Cardiff player in a petulant but innocent act.

Yet, this appeared to anger Bielik, as the footage then appears to show the 28-year-old grabbing the supporter around his neck.

In response, the young fan pushed the Pole away and in almost the same action, appeared to slap the footballer, as other irate supporters jumped to their feet in defence of the boy.

Footage then caught the fan in question gesturing towards Bielik following the incident.

The officials attempted to bring order back to the game as they halted proceedings for three minutes, but as they did, no card was shown to Bielik for his actions.

This may have infuriated Pompey fans further as he had already been booked in the ninth minute, and many would have believed this at least deserved a second yellow.

However, this decision by the referee not to reprimand the Cardiff player could lead to a serious retrospective punishment.

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Krystian Bielik’s potentially lengthy punishment

The FA will likely investigate this incident now, and Bielik faces the potential of receiving a lengthy ban and a significant fine.

Bielik may need to look at some examples of players coming to blows with fans in the stands, with two infamous examples being Patrice Evra for Marseille against Vitoria SC, and Eric Cantona when he kung-fu kicked a Crystal Palace supporter while representing Manchester United.

Evra was fined €10,000 and banned from UEFA club matches for seven months following his actions, before terminating his contract with Marseille following this punishment.

While Cantona received an eight-month global football ban and a £20,000 fine from the FA for his actions in January 1995.

These two punishments may give Bielik an idea of the kind of punishment he may receive for his apparent actions towards the young Pompey fan.