The Euro Cup qualifying game versus Montenegro could so easily have been the last game of the career of the Russian shot stopper Igor Akinfeev, but, only because he had had the well wishes of so many people with him that he managed to get away with the minimal damage.

A flame coming from the direction of the spectators hit Akinfeev and he was down straightaway.

The team doctors came in and tried to get Akinfeev sorted there on the pitch itself, but, the burn was too intense to keep the player going and after about 30 minutes or so, finally the stretcher came in and he had to go the hospital for some expert medical guidance.

The proceedings could not get underway in that duration.

After Akinfeev’s departure though, the match resumed, but, could not reach its conclusion because of the misbehaving nature of the spectators.

There were objects being thrown to the pitch and thus, to protect the players from suffering any damage, the referee made the decision of abandoning the match in the 67^th minute. Continue reading →