MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Russia’s CSKA Moscow football club will be compensated with an insurance payment from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for an injury sustained by the club’s player during the 2016 Euro Cup qualifier between Russia and Montenegro on March 30, Yevgeny Giner, the president of the Moscow club, told TASS on Saturday.
Igor Akinfeyev, a goalkeeper of the Russian national football team, sustained severe injuries on Friday night during the Group G qualifying match against Montenegro after one of the Montenegrin fans hurled a flare at the Russian footballer. The goalkeeper was carried away on stretchers and the referee had to take both teams off the pitch for about 30 minutes. The injured Russian player was taken to a hospital in Podgorica. After a while the referee ruled play must go on.
Asked whether CSKA FC would be asking for the financial compensation for the injury of its player, Gine said that "it is mandatory for UEFA to insure all players comapeting in the international tournaments."
The incident occurred seconds after kick-off. Akinfeyev suffered concussion and a burn of the neck. The match had to be eventually terminated in the 68th minute with no goals scored by either side after an object was thrown at Russian defender Dmitry Kombarov. Montenegro are now faced with a 0:3 technical defeat and disqualification of the home stadium.
A source in UEFA told TASS earlier in the day that the European football organization had not received necessary official documents and reports from the chief referee of the qualifier as well as from UEFA delegate at the match Barry Bright of Britain. The organization will announce the date of its official investigation into Friday’s Montenegrin fans’ incident in regard to the Russian player on Monday.
The Russian team, including Akinfeyev, returned to Moscow after their plane landed at Sheremetyevo airport on early Saturday morning. Upon arrival Akinfeyev told the media he was well.
Russia’s head coach Fabio Capello said commenting on the match that the game should have been halted instantly after the first major incident that followed seconds after kickoff.
He explained that was precisely the kind of decision he and all players had been waiting for. Play should have been discontinued at once, he added.
Russia held the third place in its Group G of the 2016 Euro Cup qualifiers with five points after four matches played before the encounter with Montenegro. The national team was ranked behind Austria (10 points/ and Sweden (6 points). Montenegro’s national squad also had five points after four qualifiers played.
The Russian national team started with 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein in September, had two 1-1 draws in October against Sweden and Moldova and lost to the Austrian side 0-1 in November.
Russia's match on Friday in Podgorica was its 300th competitive fixture - including games as the Soviet Union. The team’s previous 299 UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup matches ended with the record of 170 won, 66 drawn and 63 lost.
Russia experienced a string of setbacks over the past decade failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and 2010 championship in South Africa to the great dismay of the Russian football fans.
Things changed when Italian phenomenon Capello took over the team as the head coach in July of 2012 and managed to help the Russian national squad to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The team, however, failed to clear the first stage of the much-anticipated global tournament putting their coach in the center of stern criticism and raising serious concerns in the country about the team’s performance in the next World Cup, which would be hosted by Russia in 2018.
However, Russia did not severe the contract with Capello after the Russian team’s performance at the World Cup in Brazil and the Italian manager also decided to stay with the Russian squad as the head coach until the year of 2018 as stipulated by the contract terms.
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