Azerbaijan national team player Emil Safarov has commented on the controversial penalty awarded against him in the UEFA Nations League match against Lithuania.
As reported by İdman.Biz, Safarov said the away fixture was difficult and stressed that Azerbaijan did not want to leave Lithuania empty-handed.
"The game was not easy for us. We didn't want to lose away from home," he said.
Safarov, whose challenge resulted in a penalty being awarded to Lithuania, strongly disagreed with the referee's decision.
"There was a million percent no penalty there. If that was a penalty, I will quit football. I don't know why VAR didn't review the incident. The referee told me that I had pulled the opponent's shirt, but in fact he had stepped on my foot," Safarov told idmanxeber.az.
The midfielder admitted that the decision affected him psychologically and also explained why head coach Aykhan Abbasov substituted him at half-time.
"After the penalty decision, I was psychologically devastated. In fact, it was the opponent who had committed the foul. I felt very bad. At half-time, Aykhan Abbasov told me that he was worried I might get a red card. That was why I was substituted."
Safarov also clarified an episode involving him that circulated on social media, insisting that it had nothing to do with his substitution.
"My substitution had nothing to do with the footage shared on social media," he said with a laugh. "At that moment, they were saying something about the game from the bench, and I reacted as if to say, 'Let's calm the game down.' There was no problem. Aykhan Abbasov didn't say anything negative to me about it either. He understood what I meant. It was just a normal moment during the game."
The Lithuania-Azerbaijan match ended in a 1-1 draw. Mahir Emreli scored Azerbaijan's goal in the 14th minute.
