WILLY Sagnol has revealed that Georgia came under “UEFA pressure” to play their Euro 2024 qualifier against Scotland at Hampden last night despite the pitch being heavily waterlogged.
The former France internationalist, who stressed that the hosts had deserved to triumph 2-0, was clearly deeply unhappy the Group A game went ahead following a torrential downpour around an hour before kick-off.
The ex-Champions League winner was also irked at how his charges were treated during a delay that lasted over 100 minutes – especially when they were told they had to restart the encounter in just six minutes.
“It was a situation that nobody wanted obviously,” he said. “To go back on the pitch and then go back in the locker room three times. But I don’t understand why we even started the match because after five seconds everybody could see it was impossible to play.
“After the third minute Steve Clarke and I said: ‘Please, we can’t play the match, it’s impossible’. The fourth official said: ‘We can’t stop the match until the (UEFA) delegate comes down’. Then after that we have been told it was the referee who had to make the decision. It was a lot of nonsense and a lack of communication.
“The fact the referee stopped the match after the first goal (Callum McGregor scored in the sixth minute) meant he put himself under so much pressure.
"If we had stopped when Steve and I spoke together and asked him to stop the match before the goal, things would have been much easier and less stressful for everyone. We started the match as we had been asked under massive pressure from UEFA.
"The only thing I regret is the lack of communication. You don’t know who decides, you don’t know why they decide something, they don’t give you explanations. Then you have to cope with your players who have to wait and wait and wait and get cold. It wasn’t easy for us or for Scotland either.
“I spoke with Steve Clarke after the third minute of the match and we both agreed it was impossible to play football in the conditions. But the referee allowing the game to go on until after Scotland scored the opening goal made it a very difficult situation for everyone.”
Sagnol added: “The only thing we asked was ‘please communicate with us because we have to talk with our players’. The last time they came the delegate of UEFA said: ‘Okay, you have to play in six minutes’. How can you say that to players, who have been inside for 30 minutes, who haven’t had a proper dinner or lunch for four-and-a-half, five hours, to professional people?
“That is why, for me, it is a lack of respect. Maybe some people should respect things a bit more. It would make things easier. I know decisions are never easy to be made, but as a manager. I have to take decisions every day. It is my job as it is the job of the people who organise the match. The break and lack of decision. It would have made for a more peaceful atmosphere if the referee had done his job at the beginning.
“In the 20 or 30 minutes when they weren’t playing they heard ‘yes, no, maybe not’. But the worst was when the referee and delegate said to the captains and to the teams that they need our feedback. We gave our feedback. Even Robertson, the captain of Scotland, said: ‘Maybe we shouldn’t restart the match’.
“Everybody had had enough of the situation. We felt they considered us as objects. It was basically ‘shut up and do what I tell you to do’. But it had nothing to do with the rest of the match because the conditions were the same for both teams.”
Scotland surged eight points clear of Georgia at the top of Group A after winning their fourth qualifier in a row and Sagnol feels they can secure a place in the finals in Germany next summer if they can beat Cyprus away in September.
“Scotland with another win will be almost certain to qualify,” he added. “They deserve it. They were brilliant in the first three matches and I think they deserved to win again tonight, so congratulations to them.”
