A CONFERENCE League clash unbelievably saw a stadium announcer shown a red card on Thursday night.
The qualifier between Turkish club Basaksehir and Romanian outfit CS Universitatea Craiova descended into chaos with 10 minutes left to play.
Craiova came into the game leading 2-1 and secured their spot in the Conference League proper with a 3-1 victory on the night, advancing with a 5-2 aggregate win.
But upon netting their third goal of the evening, and subsequently putting themselves out of sight of Basaksehir, the celebrations quickly turned sour when madness ensued on the touchline.
A fracas between both sets of players and staff broke out, with the referee dishing out red cards to coaching staff for both sides.
But the most unbelievable moment came when the official showed a straight red card to the Craiova stadium announcer – who was still giving it his all into the microphone celebrating the Romanian club’s third goal.
Though it’s not entirely clear why he was sent off, the stadium announcer was ushered away from the pitch by the linesman.
SunSport has contacted Uefa for comment.
Basaksehir’s exit from the Conference League contributed to a shocking week for Turkish football.
They join Fenerbahce, Samsunspor and Besiktas in failing to qualify for European competition proper in the space of the last two days.
Besiktas’ early exit from the Conference League appeared to have the biggest impact in Turkey, as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked just hours after their 1-0 defeat to Swiss club Lausanne-Sport.
Besiktas released a blunt, 40-word statement that read: “Our contract with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been terminated following a decision made at the board meeting.
“Following the meeting, our chairman, Serdal Adalı, thanked Solskjaer for his services to date.
“We respectfully present this for the public’s information.”
Former Man Utd boss Solskjaer joined the club in January after a three-year hiatus from management following his unceremonious departure from United in late 2021.
He steered the Turkish giants to a fourth-place finish last season, deploying fellow former Premier League stars such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arthur Masuaku and Spurs flop Gedson Fernandes.
To add insult to injury, Lausanne are owned by INEOS, the company helmed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who also own United.
The side are currently eighth in the Swiss Super League.
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