Team India football head coach Igor Stimac on June 22 (Thursday) defended his actions during the country's SAFF Championships match against Pakistan on June 21 (Wednesday) which earned him a red card. The incident occurred just before the half time when Stimac was not happy with a throw-in call and interrupted the Pakistan player on the sideline. Just after Stimac took the ball away from the player it led to an ugly brawl between India and Pakistan players at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
As the scuffle took an ugly turn, the referees intervened with official Prajwal Chhetri showing the red card to Stimac. The Indian coach took to Twitter and explained his actions, saying that he would do the same again if the situation demands to protect the players on the pitch.
"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. Jai Hind, Lets go Croatia," Stimac said in a tweet.
Apart from the scuffle between the players, coach and support staff, there was no competition between the two teams as India beat Pakistan by 4-0. Skipper Sunil Chhetri scored a record-breaking hat-trick as Pakistan's goalkeeper and defenders made too many errors in their campaign opener.
Chhetri, who scored his debut goal for India in a match against Pakistan in 2005, took his international goals tally to a staggering 90 and is currently the fourth-highest goal-scorer in international football. The Indian talisman became the second-highest Asian goalscorer in international football. Iran's Ali Daei holds the record with 109 goals from 149 matches.
India will next face minnows Nepal in their second Group A match on Saturday.
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Watch: India-Pakistan players engage in fiery brawl after coach Igor Stimac gets red card for interrupting throw-in
