Mohamed Salah caused a sensation with a sweet family photo that became embroiled in an ugly storm.
On Christmas Day, the Liverpool hero shared a sweet photo with his family in front of a Christmas tree in a move that angered some of the footballer's millions of fans.
The $90 million ace has been making waves on an annual basis in recent years with his family's Christmas photos.
As a proud Muslim man, Al-Masry faced backlash from Instagram users, with some calling him a “hypocrite”.
Salah had previously refused to submit to the annual criticism and explained his decision to continue celebrating the holiday in the United Kingdom.
He had previously said that his decision to embrace Christmas was a gesture of “respect.”
The photo shared this week showed the 32-year-old wearing matching red pajamas with his wife Maggie and daughters Mecca, 10, and Kian, 4.
The photo also showed a brightly lit Christmas tree and a new-sized gingerbread man.
He commented on the photo, saying: “Happy Birthday.”
However, not everyone supported Salah's photo, and a storm of controversy erupted, exceeding 215,000 comments.
Salah, who has more than 63 million followers on Instagram, is widely supported by other fans.
However, others made a series of ugly comments targeting the footballer's family.
“Delete this now.” one Instagram user wrote.
“We Muslims look up to you, and you do it in return.”
One person wrote that Salah's actions were “disgraceful.”
“With all the warnings you still went ahead and made this shameful post of yours,” the troll wrote.
Another said the photo was an act of “hypocrisy.”
“Someone needs to tell him he has the right to believe in any religion he wants,” the troll wrote.
“If he wants to be a Christian, so be it, but what you are doing as a Muslim is nothing less than hypocrisy.”
Salah has never let off-field drama affect his performance on the field.
On the other side of the coin, one of the many publications defending Salah said: “Raising his children to respect the traditions of other cultures and giving them special memories to look back on when they grow up, he is an inspiration to everyone.”
Salah is currently negotiating his next contract with Liverpool. He is nearing the end of a current deal that reportedly sees him earn approximately $435,000 per week.
Salah scored two goals in Liverpool's win over Tottenham on Tuesday (AEST) and will return to action for Liverpool against Leicester on Friday.
