Referee gives never-before-seen red card in Conference League game after bizarre incident

In one of the more unusual moments of the week, a stadium announcer was given a never-before-seen red card during an eventful clash in the Europa Conference League.

Romanian giants Universitatea Craiova secured their spot in Friday's Conference League draw after they eased past Super Lig side Istanbul Basaksehir across two legs.

After recording a 2-1 win over their Turkish opponents last week, Craiova romped to victory on Thursday as goals from Alexandru Cicaldau, Stefan Baiaram and Steven Nsimba sealed a 5-2 aggregate win.

With around nine minutes of normal time remaining, Nsimba rubbed salt into the wounds to make it 3-1.

But moments later, in a quite remarkable scene at the Ion Oblemenco stadium, things got a little out of hand when Craiova's stadium announcer was given a straight red card by German referee Daniel Schlager.

The stadium announcer is sent for an early bath. Image credit: TRT1

As you can see from the footage below, Schlager brandished a red as the stadium announcer screamed Nsimba's name to those in attendance.

It's not entirely clear why he was given his marching orders, but journalist Filip Cieśliński claims that during a scuffle between both sets of players, the announcer was "walking around with a microphone and shouting in the faces of opponents and the referee."

Here's how fans on social media reacted to the never-before-seen moment.

One said: "Stadium announcer sent off. How can you not love Conference League," while another wrote: "So is he allowed to keep announcing since he can do that outside the pitch or how does this work?"

A third commented: "I love the implication that anyone can be red carded whether or not they are a part of either team lmao."

A fourth said: "Would be funny if he just took the mic with him down the tunnel, into the dressing room and just kept chanting," and a fifth added: "The game is back."

Thoughts on the incident? Let us know in the comments.