A referee severely beat a referee after he was shown a red card during a football match in the Russian capital. The player was former Russian national football team captain Shirokov. The referee had to stay in hospital for several hours.
The match was a friendly football match being played in Moscow this week. There was a moment during the game when the referee showed a red card to a midfield player for a serious foul and asked him to leave the field. The player was Roman Sherokov, a former captain of Russia's national football team.
Thirty-nine-year-old Shirokov was so enraged when he received the red card that he ignored all sorts of rules and regulations and slapped the first referee in the face. Then he pushed the referee to the ground and hit him hard on the head with his foot. It all happened during a match, and it became a video.
Referee Nikita Dankhankov said in a video message after the incident that he had been in hospital for several hours after the physical attack. In this video, you can see how his face was swollen and he had blue on one eye.
The footballer later released a statement on Instagram in which he admitted that he had behaved in a very inappropriate manner during the match and apologized to referee Nikita Dankhankov.
According to Russian state media, the family of the referee has lodged a formal complaint with the Moscow police as a "physical assault" and the police are investigating the incident. Media reports did not respond to a request for comment from the Russian Football Federation.
Roman Sherokov had a long career as a professional footballer. He has also played for the Russian football club Zenit St. Petersburg in the past. He was also part of the club's team that won the 2008 UEFA Cup. He represented his country in a total of 57 international matches, during which time he captained the Russian national football team.
