Mohamed Salah has caused uproar with a sweet family photo that has become embroiled in an ugly storm.
The Liverpool hero on Christmas Day shared a cute photo with his family in front of a Christmas tree in a move that has angered some of the soccer player’s millions of fans.
The $90 million ace has sparked storms on an annual basis in recent years with Christmas photos of his family.
As a proud Muslim man, the Egyptian has faced a backlash from Instagram users with some calling him a “hypocrite.”
Salah has previously refused to buckle to the annual criticism and has explained his decision to continue to celebrate the holiday in the UK.
He has previously said his decision to embrace Christmas is a gesture of “respect”.
The photo shared this week showed the 32-year-old dressed in matching red pajamas with wife Magi and daughters Makka, 10, and Kayan, 4.
The picture also showed a brightly light Christmas tree and a novelty-sized gingerbread man.
He captioned the photo “Merry Christmas.”
However, not everyone supported Salah’s photo and a storm of debate erupted into a barrage of more than 215,000 comments.
Salah, who has more than 63 million Instagram followers, was also widely supported by other fans.
Others, however, made a series of ugly comments that even singled out the footballer’s family.
“Delete this right now.” one Instagram user wrote.
“We Muslim people look up to you, and you do this in return.”
One person wrote Salah’s actions were “disgraceful.”
“With all the warnings, you still go ahead and post this shame post of yours,” the troll posted.
Another said the photo was an act of “hypocrisy”.
“Someone needs to tell him he has the right to believe in whatever faith he wants,” the troll posted.
“If he wants to be Christian, then so be it, but what you are doing as a Muslim is nothing short of HYPOCRISY.”
Salah has never let the off-field drama impact his performance on the field.
On the other side of the coin, one of the many posts defending Salah said: “Raising his children to respect other cultures traditions and giving them special memories to remember when they’re adults, he’s an inspiration to all.”
Salah is currently negotiating his next contract with Liverpool. He is coming toward the end of current deal which reportedly sees him earn nearly $435,000 per week.
Salah scored two goals in Liverpool’s win over Tottenham on Tuesday (AEDT) and is back in action for Liverpool against Leicester on Friday.