Bizarre moment Julian Draxler walks off pitch during Al-Ahli SC game in Qatar goes viral | OneFootball

Highlights

A curious incident involving Julian Draxler has puzzled football fans as the footage spreads across social media. The Germany international scored two goals for Al-Ahli SC against Qatar SC after entering the fray as a second-half substitute but was seen walking off the pitch before the full-time whistle had been blown.

Draxler, 30, joined the Qatar Stars League outfit last month, putting pen to paper on a two-year contract after leaving Paris Saint-Germain. The attacking midfielder opted to leave European football after spending last season on loan at Benfica.

Once tipped to become one of the world’s best footballers, Draxler has struggled to justify the hype since making waves as a youngster at Schalke. He’s still enjoyed a decent career, turning out for Wolfsburg in between his spells with Schalke and PSG, but it’s fair to say that many football fans expected more from the 2014 World Cup winner over the past decade.

What happened

Draxler’s current employers, Al-Ahli, have picked up just three points from their opening six matches of the season and subsequently find themselves second from bottom in the league table, above Al-Markhiya due to their slightly superior goal difference. Al-Ahli were trailing 3-0 to Qatar SC when Draxler was subbed on by Portuguese coach Pepa but found themselves back in the game minutes later thanks to a quick-fire brace from the German.

Draxler reduced the deficit to two goals in the 62nd minute with a simple finish from close range after being picked out by Naim Sliti. He completed his brace four minutes later with an emphatic finish past Qatar international goalkeeper Motasem Al Bustami.

Despite Draxler’s best efforts, though, Al-Ahli eventually lost the game 4-2. Raoul Danzabe netted Qatar SC’s fourth and final goal of the afternoon in the 90th minute, securing the points in the process.

However, Al-Ahli ended the match with 10 men, despite not having any of their players sent off, after Draxler left the game unexpectedly. Footage shows him walking down the tunnel after passing the ball to a teammate. Watch the video below:

Why Draxler walked off the pitch

A thread about the incident over on Reddit has attracted hundreds of comments, with fans attempting to work out the reason for Draxler’s sudden and unusual departure from the match. Some have speculated that Draxler walked off the pitch because he was frustrated, but this would obviously be a shocking move from a vastly-experienced professional.

A more believable explanation is that Draxler may have been struggling physically and left the game shortly before full-time because Al-Ahli had already made five substitutes. A screenshot posted on X appears to back up the theory that Draxler was, indeed, carrying an injury when he left the field of play.

We saw a similar incident earlier this month involving 16-year-old Lamine Yamal during the Champions League clash between Barcelona and FC Porto. Yamal mysteriously disappeared in the 71st minute, leaving Barça down to 10 men for the next 10 minutes. The youngster didn’t resume the match and his manager Xavi confirmed during his post-match press conference that his sudden exit was due to stomach problems.