Russia head coach Fabio Capello has expressed great frustration following the postponement of the Euro 2016 qualifying match between Russia and Montenegro.
In just 20 seconds, starting goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was struck in the neck as by a flare and stretchered to hospital, which delayed the match by 35-minutes. The match would eventually get another lengthy delay as a fight broke out on the pitch after Roman Shirokov’s penalty was saved in the 66th minute, and the game was finally suspended by German referee Deniz Aytekin afterwards.
“The match should not have continued at all after the ugly incident that happened early in the race,” Russia Head coach Fabio Capello said to reporters after the postponement.
“But we continued, until we made the right decision. The UEFA delegate has the right to permanently stop the meeting, not the referee.”
Capello continued with thoughts on his side’s performance and on Akinfeev’s injury.
“I think the team did well today, we had a number of actions, but we failed to score,” he said.
“Akinfeev is now a bit better, but the doctors will report how he is.”
