"“We think it’s from a mistaken interpretation of what happened on the [live] show, since it was a Saudi journalist who actually made the comments,” Mr Sarkis said.
The show in question was a mid-September broadcast of Line Six, a weekly live commentary programme about the Saudi league moderated by Mohammed Najeeb, the head of Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya. Mr Najeeb said the theme of the show was an examination of who was responsible for shortcomings in Saudi football after the Saudi national team failed to qualify for the World Cup for the fifth time in a row." (thanks Fawzi)