Bayern to Fine Ribery for Responding Criticisms on Spendings

Bayern Munich will impose "a heavy fine" on Franck Ribery after he replied to a journalist who had criticized the way he was spending his salary on social media, the club's sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said on Sunday.

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The French striker put a string of posts on Twitter and Instagram on Saturday aimed at those who had criticized him for eating a gold-coated steak.

"I had a long talk with Franck and I let him know that we would impose a heavy fine on him and he accepted it," Salihamidzic told journalists in Qatar, where the club is on a training camp. "He used words that we, FC Bayern, cannot accept and that Franck does not have the right to use, as a role-model and player of FC Bayern," added Salihamidzic.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old Bayern Munich player posted a video on social media showing him in a steakhouse owned by celebrity Turkish restauranteur Salt Bae and rubbing his hands before tucking into a huge chop coated in gold.

The reported cost of the meal — even if Salihamidzic made clear later that Ribery did not pay the bill himself because he had been invited to the restaurant, drew ferocious criticism before Ribery responded on Saturday.

"For 2019, remember the points on the 'i' (to put things right) And the bars on the t .... starting with the envious, the haters, born surely from a perforated condom: F*ck your mothers, your grandmothers and your family tree," read the first of the posts on Ribery's Twitter account, having taken care to sanitize the French word "n*quez.". "I don't owe you anything, my success is first of all thanks to God, to me and my loved ones who believed in me, for the rest, you are nothing but pebbles in my socks!"

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"Secondly, concerning these pseudo-journalists that have always had negative criticism against me, my acts … When I give donations (Because I was taught to give when I get a lot….) Why should no major national media broadcast this? No, you would prefer to talk about the holidays I spent with my family, you scrutinize my deeds and gestures, What I eat etc, Oh yes, for that kind of futilities you are present!"

"Franck has been slandered and insulted," said Salihamidzic. "And not only Franck, but his pregnant wife, his child and his mother, who is currently in hospital for an operation. Franck wanted to defend himself and defend his family. He has the right to do that. I support him in that, but unfortunately, he totally lost control."

German media and social media users had called on the reigning Bundesliga champions to punish the striker, who is out of contract at the end of the season. "Bosses must suspend Ribery," urged German tabloid Bild.

The paper referred to comments by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the club's chief executive, who, in October responded to media criticism by quoting the German Constitution that "the dignity of the human being is intangible."

"He is right, but it would not hurt if he explained it to his employee Franck Ribery," said Bild.