Dog sent off for invading pitch at Serbian friendly

[February 08, 2021]    BELGRADE (Reuters) - A dog who repeatedly invaded the pitch during a friendly soccer match between Serbia's second-tier teams Radnicki 1923 Kragujevac and Kolubara Lazarevac was sent off after play had been stopped several times in bizarre fashion on Friday.

Belgrade daily Sportski Zurnal published a photograph on its website of referee Marko Ivkovic flashing a red card to the dog who had chased the ball relentlessly every time it ran onto the pitch before it finally scampered off.

Radnicki 1923, who top the 18-team first division standings at the winter break on 40 points from 17 games, lost 3-0 against Kolubara, who are fourth on 29 points, in the warm-up match.

The league is due to resume on Feb. 20.

The top two teams at the end of the season will be promoted to the Balkan nation's 20-team Superleague, which resumed on Friday with seventh-placed TSC Backa Topola grinding out a 1-0 win at third-placed Vojvodina Novi Sad.

(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Edititng by Ken Ferris)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.