India football coach Igor Stimac on Wednesday received a red card from the match referee even though he wasn't on the field of play during their SAFF Cup 2023 opening match against Pakistan in Bengaluru.
The fiery match saw Stimac appeal against one of the referee's decisions in the 45th minute after which the ball went out for Pakistan's throw-in.
But Stimac, still appealing against the referee's decision, sneaked behind the Pakistani player and punched the ball away just as he was about to throw it in to play.
This made the Pakistani players furious as they were already trailing 0-2 at the time.
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The players ran over to Stimac and started arguing before the Indian team also got behind their coach.
A heated scuffle ensured which had to be broken off by the referees and linesmen present there.
Stimac was handed a red card by the referee while Pakistan's coach got a yellow card for his intervention in the brawl.
Sunil Chhetri nets hat-trick
India scored two more goals in the second half to register a thumping 4-0 win in their opening match of the campaign.
Captain Sunil Chhetri starred with a hat-trick while Udanta scored one in the 72nd minute to cap off a dominant Indian show in Bengaluru.
Chhetri now has 90 goals for India, putting him fourth on the list of highest international scorers behind Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo (123), Iran legend Ali Daei (109) and Argentina's World Cup-winning skipper Lionel Messi (103).
Chhetri surpassed Malaysia's Mokhtar Dahari (89) after the hat-trick.
