We expected the Kosovars to challenge us, if they don’t like the result

“We kind of expected that, if the result didn’t suit them, they would challenge us, look for such things. The important thing is that we knew what we had to do. We didn’t know what was happening, we wanted to play until at the end, after which I understood that they don’t want to go out. I didn’t know what the procedures are in such moments. It’s important for us that we achieved our goal from this match. Naturally, we wanted to win, but sometimes we have to be smart and know how to manage such moments”, stated Drăguş.

The match between the Romanian national football team and Kosovo was abandoned with a score of 0-0, on Friday evening, at the National Arena in Bucharest, in Group C2 of the League of Nations, after the visiting team withdrew from the field in the min. 90+5.

The match, which was a few tens of seconds away from a natural end after the additional time granted by the referee, ended grotesquely, with the Kosovo team leaving the field for no plausible reason, despite the referee’s attempts to get the visiting players to stay on grass.

After an interruption of about 70 minutes, the Danish referee Morten Krogh returned to the field and whistled the end of the match only in the presence of the Romanian players, a verdict to be given by the UEFA Disciplinary Committee.

The incidents broke out in min. 90+5, when the guests’ captain, Amir Rrahmani, a Napoli player, bumped Denis Alibec, and the players of the two teams got involved in the stampede. The conflict was settled in the end, and the referee Krogh gave three yellow cards, received by Rrahmani, Alibec and Dellova.

Romania was awarded a free kick, but the players continued to fight in the box before it was taken, and the Kosovar players decided to leave the field.

Given that Romania won the tour match, from Prishtina, with 3-0, Kosovo needed at least one victory with this score in Bucharest to keep chances of winning the group and promoting to League B.
AGERPRES