Turkish football is not calming down. After the most recent attack against a referee, the next scandal broke out in the Süper Lig on Tuesday evening – and once again a referee was in the spotlight.
Out of anger with referee Ali Sansalan, club president Ecmel Faik Sarialioglu from Istanbulspor asked his team to leave the pitch in the duel with Trabzonspor. The immediate reason was that Sansalan had denied the home team a supposed penalty after a collision on the edge of the penalty area. In return, the guests scored a goal.
The scene was checked by the video assistant, but the hit remained valid. Some Istanbul players then followed the instructions of their president, who had rushed to the field, to leave the field, others wanted to continue playing.
Captain Mehmet Yesil finally informed the referees that Istanbulspor would not continue playing. The game was abandoned after minutes of discussions when the score was 1:2.