Algeria forward Rafik Saifi slapped a female journalist across the face after his side’s 1-0 defeat by USA in the World Cup.
The 35-year-old spotted Asma Halimi as he walked in the interview zone, where dozens of reporters were working on post-match stories, and attacked her without saying a single word.
Halimi, who works for Algerian daily Compétition?, hit him back in the mouth before security personnel stepped in to escort her away.
Saifi, who came on as a second-half substitute in Wednesday’s game, hurled a bottle at a wall after the unexpected assault.
“I said nothing to him and he reached over and hit me,” Halimi told Yahoo! Sports. “So I hit him back. I said nothing to him first.”
An eyewitness, Francisco Aguilar Chang, confirmed that Saifi flew off the handle for no apparent reason.
“She was standing there and the guy came here and he hit her,” Chang, a reporter from Guatemala said. “Then she hit him back and her nail caught his lip.”
Halimi, who’s also Algerian, said she would definitely file a complaint to world governing body FIFA and the Algerian FA against Saifi.
The FC Istres man and Algerian Football Association officials refused to comment on the outragous incident.
According to media reports, Saifi probably beat Halimi because he was enraged by an opinion article she wrote about him.
Algeria, who didn’t score a single goal in the World Cup, bowed out of the tournament after losing their last group stage match to USA.
