Kanga's madness up close: He ignored coach Stankovic, then went wild kicking stuff around the bench

Red Star (Crvena Zvezda) experienced a nightmarish elimination in the Champions League playoffs, as the team effectively "committed suicide" at their own stadium in Belgrade last night.

Red Star kicked itself out of the competition, first after keeper Borjan's mistake at the end of the first half, and then after Milan Pavkov's own goal in the 90th minute.

The game was also marked by the moment in the 53rd when Guelor Kanga was substituted and seemed incredulous when he realized that head coach Dejan Stankovic was taking him out of the game.

In the first half, Kanga was the engine of Red Star's team, he directed the game, but he also received a yellow card and because of his hotheadedness, once booked he is always a ticking bomb to potentially get sent off.

Also, he made perhaps the key mistake immediately after Borjan saved a penalty given to Maccabi Haifa in the last moments of the first half, when instead of leading a counterattack that could have brought Red Star a 3-0 advantage, he gave the ball to his rivals, after which the Israeli team scored for a 2-1, thanks to a mistake Borjan made on a shot from a long distance.

However, when Kanga was subbed, he fiercely resented the decision. First, he put his hands together then covered his face as he was walking off the pitch in disbelief.

And then he had all sorts of things to say to his coach, Dejan Stankovic, ignoring his outstretched hand. Kanga just walked past Stankovic uttering words of dissatisfaction, and then had an outburst of anger on the bench, when he started kicking water bottles lined up there.

This is not the first time that Kanga and Stankovic have been at odds, it happened once before when chaos ensued in the dressing room after the match against Slovan Liberec two seasons ago. The reason was once again Kanga refusing to extend his hand to Stankovic, and he was also substituted in the 53rd minute then.

Their conflict was so fierce that the Gabonese was on the verge of leaving Red Star, but later things got smoothed out between them, and Kanga would often later run to the bench to hug Stankovic after scoring goals.

However, after this new outburst, the question remains how tolerant Stankovic and the club will be towards Kanga.

The two Champions League qualifiers played between Red Star and Maccabi Haifa ended 4-5 on aggregate and the Serbian champions will continue their European adventure this season in the Europa League.

(Telegraf.rs)