Religions in collision here. Karma, a Hindu/Buddhist concept … as it applies in the home of Islam.

Or doesn’t.

More likely, we are talking about coincidence.

Remember the spitting, head-butting soccer player who plays for Saudi club Al Hilal? Nasser Al Shamrani?

He had a very interesting couple of days in Manila a little over a week ago.

He had been named one of the three finalists for the Asian Footballer of the Year award bestowed by the Asian Football Confederations — which oversees soccer from Lebanon to Japan and Australia.

Considering the two other candidates put forward, the Al Ain center back Ismail Ahmed and the Al Sadd (Qatar) forward Khalfan Ibrahim, Al Shamrani was very likely going to win. The other two being decent players who somehow got on the ballot.

The day before the award was announced, Al Shamrani’s session with media headed off in the direction of his appalling display in the AFC Champions League final against Western Sydney Wanderers and, in particular, Matthew Spiranovic.

Al Shamrani attempted to head-butt Spiranovic, and after the match appeared to (successfully) spit on him. And both incidents were caught on film, with the spitting episode at the 53-second mark of this embedded video.

(Oh, and I almost forgot this one: Al Shamrani can be seen mocking/taunting the UAE’s Omar Abdulrahman, who was leaving the match because of injury, during a semifinal of the Gulf Cup of Nations last month.)

In Manila a week later, rather than apologize for his actions in the Western Sydney match, Al Shamrani had the audacity to suggest Spiranovic got what he deserved and that spitting on opponents happen now and then.

When the questioning got too hot for Al Shamrani, he cut short the media session and exited through the back door.

The next day, Al Shamrani won the Footballer of the Year award — just hours after word leaked that he would be hit with an eight-match ban from Champions League competition for his actions in the Western Sydney match.

So, he held up the trophy at the banquet, then went backstage for more of those annoying questions from reporters. Al Shamrani said he was thinking only about winning the award and paying no heed to reports of the imminent ban — which did come down, an instance of particularly bad timing, as our John McAuley wrote.

So, on the one hand a player who behaves despicably and doesn’t apologize is named Asia’s best player.

But on the other hand, we have this trifecta of universe-balancing occurrences.

–The eight-match ban. Which means Al Shamrani may never play in another AFC Champions League match, considering he is 31 and it’s not every year that a club makes the tournament.

–He and his club lost the Champions League final on their home pitch, in Riyadh, to Western Sydney, a club in its second season of existence that should not have had any chance against the Saudi side that considers itself the “biggest” in Asia.

–And, just days before he picked up the award, Al Shamrani and the Saudi national team lost the final of the Gulf Cup 2-1 to Qatar — again, on Al Shamrani’s home pitch.

So, the scales of justice, somewhat balanced here?

Poor sport receives major award … but in the process is tarred by Asia media and runs from his interrogaters … and plays a major role for teams that lost championship games in both club and national competition. In the same month. To teams deemed inferior.