Angry fans of a football club in Tripoli protesting a referee decision set fire to the facade and garden of the headquarters of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU), ​two eyewitnesses and a local TV channel said on Thursday.

The violence flared in the capital on Thursday evening, after fans of Tripoli’s Al-Ittihad football club took to the streets to protest a referee’s decision denying them a penalty kick in a match against Misrata’s Swehly club.

The match was played at Tarhouna’s city stadium, about 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Tripoli. A ​Reuters journalist who watched the match said it was stopped in the ⁠87th minute after Al-Ittihad protested the decision.

Al-ittihad fans at the match stormed the pitch, sparking ​a riot that damaged property and injured stadium guards, the journalist said.

Pictures on social media showed ​guards with wounds on their heads, legs and hands being rushed to a hospital in Tarhouna.

In Tripoli, according to two eyewitnesses, Al-ittihad fans who had been watching the match at their club’s complex marched towards ​the GNU building and set off fireworks “to express their anger”, causing the building’s facade to ​catch fire.

“The situation was very chaotic, with thick smoke rising into the sky, and cars in the area ‌were ⁠trying to leave before things got worse because the fans were very angry,” one of the eyewitnesses said.

Video footage posted on the internet and from Istanbul-based Libya Al-Ahrar TV channel showed flames engulfing the glass facade of the GNU building and thick plumes of black smoke billowing into ​the sky.

There was no ​immediate response by the ⁠GNU to a Reuters request for a comment. The situation calmed down around midnight as GNU forces deployed around the building and firefighters ​brought the fire under control.

Al-Ittihad, in a statement on its verified ​Facebook page, ⁠demanded “a comprehensive review of all refereeing decisions during the match”. Swehly said in a short statement on Facebook that its team was heading back to Misrata “crowned with victory”.

The internationally recognised GNU is headed ⁠by ​Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who came to power in 2021 ​in a U.N.-brokered process.

Libya has had little stability since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi.

-Reuters

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Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho scored a controversial penalty with the last kick of the game to secure a 3-2 win at Motherwell on Wednesday, sending the Scottish Premiership title race to a final-day showdown against leaders Heart of Midlothian.

With Hearts beating Falkirk 3-0 at ​home and Celtic being held after Motherwell’s Liam Gordon scored an 85th-minute equaliser at Fir Park, a first title in ‌66 years was within touching distance for the Edinburgh club.

Had it stayed like that, Celtic would have needed to beat Hearts by a three-goal margin at home on Saturday.

But deep in stoppage time, Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson headed away a ball into the area but was adjudged by referee John Beaton, after a VAR check and his ​viewing a pitch-side monitor, to have brushed the ball with his raised hand despite no Celtic player appealing for it.

Under enormous pressure, ​Iheanacho stayed ice cool to slot his kick past keeper Calum Ward to spark a pitch invasion by ⁠delirious Celtic fans and take an epic title race to a climax on Saturday, where Hearts will need a draw to become the first ​team other than Celtic or Rangers to be champions since 1985.

While Celtic manager Martin O’Neill praised his side’s never-say-die spirit, Hearts manager Derek McInnes, having ​watched the video of Celtic’s penalty, struggled to contain his anger.

“It’s disgusting. We’re up against everybody. I don’t think it’s a penalty,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s so poor, and it looks as though (Celtic) have been given it.

“They are very fortunate. It’s going to the last game. We’re delighted to be part of it. We’re going to ​have to go and get a positive result. What a game it’s going to be.”

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou described the penalty decision as “shocking”. “I ​can’t see any paragraph in the rule book that can lead to that being a penalty,” he said.

Hearts have 80 points from 37 games with Celtic, who ‌have won ⁠six league games in a row, on 79.

GLUED TO THEIR PHONES

Goals by Frankie Kent, Cammy Devlin and Blair Spittal earned Hearts the points at Tynecastle, where fans were glued to their phones checking on events 40 miles away.

They cheered when news of Elliot Watt’s opening goal for Motherwell came through, and when Kent sent a bullet header into Falkirk’s net after 29 minutes, and Devlin made it 2-0 to Hearts with a deflected shot, the mood was ecstatic.

Some ​Hearts fans were even shedding tears ​of joy, although when Celtic ⁠equalised at Motherwell through Daizen Maeda, the mood was dampened slightly.

An eerie silence descended on Tynecastle for much of the second half after Benjamin Nygren’s stunning second goal for Celtic changed the dynamics.

All that mattered then was what was happening at ​Fir Park, where Motherwell were laying siege to the Celtic goal. Motherwell hit the crossbar with a ​deflected Elliot Watt strike ⁠, with Tawanda Maswanhise’s rebound saved by Viljami Sinisalo.

Gordon’s equaliser for Motherwell had the Hearts fans dancing again, but their joy turned to disbelief as events unfolded elsewhere that will raise the ghosts of the last time Hearts were so close to the title.

Forty years ago, Hearts arrived at the final day ⁠of the ​1985-86 season unbeaten in 27 league games, two points ahead of Celtic and requiring just ​a draw at Dundee to win the trophy.

Instead, Celtic fan Albert Kidd scored two late goals to give Dundee a 2-0 win at Dens Park, and Celtic romped to a 5-0 ​victory against St Mirren to snatch the title on goal difference and leave Hearts broken.

-Reuters

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Former African champions Ismaily SC, the club beaten by Nigeria’s Enyimba FC in the historic 2003 CAF Champions League final, have been relegated from the Egyptian Premier League after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Wadi Degla FC on Tuesday.

The result confirmed the end of Ismaily’s long-standing stay in Egypt’s top division, as the three-time league champions finished bottom of the four-team relegation group with 19 points.

The relegation marks only the second time in the club’s history that they have dropped out of the top flight and the first since the 1957-58 season. Their earlier relegation came during the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, when the club lost several key players before eventually returning to the elite division.

Founded in 1924 in the north-eastern Egyptian city of Ismailia along the Suez Canal, Ismaily are regarded as one of Egypt’s oldest and most iconic clubs.

For Nigerian football followers, the club remains closely associated with Enyimba’s historic triumph in the 2003 CAF Champions League final — a landmark victory that made the Aba-based side the first Nigerian club to win Africa’s premier club competition.

Enyimba defeated Ismaily 2-1 on aggregate in the final, winning the return leg 2-1 in Cairo after the first leg in Aba ended goalless. The victory launched a golden era for the Nigerian club, which successfully defended the title in 2004.

Ismaily themselves hold an important place in African football history. The Egyptian side became the first club from Egypt to win Africa’s top club competition in 1969, when the tournament was known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs.

The club last won the Egyptian league title in the 2001-02 season and also boasts two Egypt Cup trophies.

However, financial difficulties in recent years have badly affected the once-famous club. Reports indicate that Ismaily even published their bank account details publicly at one stage in a bid to encourage supporters to contribute funds toward the club’s survival.

Meanwhile, Wadi Degla’s victory lifted them to 48 points and the top position in the relegation group, keeping alive their hopes of survival.

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