SAFF Championship 2023: Igor Stimac reacts on his red card, says ‘you can hate me but i will do it again’

The Indian football team coach’s action led to a heated brawl during the second half of the match with the hosts leading 2-0 at the time. Igor Stimac seemed unhappy with the referee’s decision of not giving a foul on Pritam Kotal as he awarded a throw-in instead.

A baffled Stimac brought out his hand from as Abdullah Iqbal was about to throw the ball. Pakistan midfielder Rahis Nabi came charging toward the coach for a heated argument. Soon players and staff from both sides joined in as a melee broke out.

It was followed by an aggressive action by Pakistan goalkeeping coach Marcelo Costa, who headbutted India team manager Velu Dhayalamani. The situation died down after a few minutes as some of the players intervened to take the aggressive players away. At the end, it was coach Igor Stimac, who was shown a red card by the referee while no cards were shown to any of the Pakistan players or coaching staff.

Taking to Twitter, Igor Stimac said he said football is a game of passion and in future, if such a situation arises, he won’t hold back from taking similar actions.

“Football is all about passion, especially when you defend the colours of your country. You can hate or love me for my actions yesterday, but I am a warrior and I will do it again when needed to protect our boys on the pitch against unjustified decisions,” Stimac tweeted.

Due to the red card, Stimac will have to watch the next India match from the stand and was also kept away from the post-match press conference as per the rules of the tournament. The conference was attended by assistant coach Shanmugam Venkatesh, who said it was a red card as Stimac couldn’t stop play like that but found it unfair given none of the Pakistan players or staff members were cautioned despite the headbutting by Costa.