Turkey drew 2-2 draw against Tunisia in Geneva, Switzerland after a heated friendly clash that saw Cenk Tosun receive his first red card.
Tosun, who captained Turkey scored the opening goal from a penalty on 55 minutes.
Just minutes later he was involved sent off after an confrontation with with a section of the fans behind the dugout.
Cenk Tosun was shown a straight red. So odd. Very unlike him. He was captain & had scored pic.twitter.com/hgnkrzrjtN
— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) June 1, 2018
Turkish-Football were informed by a member of the Turkish Football Federation that Tosun reacted to flares and a smoke bomb being hurled at his father and uncle.
Tosun used throat-slitting gestures aimed towards the fans and marched towards them.
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Tosun’s teammates and staff from the Turkey national side stepped in to keep distance between the striker and the crowd.
“I am usually very calm, I lost the plot, a red mist descended on me,” Tosun said after the game.
“First of all I would like to apologise to the Turkish people and my teammates, when you wear the national team shirt you have to act responsibly.
“I let my teammates and myself down, we could have gone onto win the game had I not reacted like that.
“But I am human, I am a professional footballer but I am also human.
“I am very close with my father, he played a huge role in me getting to where I did my career.
“When I saw what happened in the stands I could not hold myself back.
“All I can do is apologise.”
Tosun revealed that he saw his father surrounded by fans in the stands and that is what sparked his animated reaction.
The striker underlined that he was genuinely concerned for his fathers safety after seeing him surrounded.
“I turned my head and saw them surrounding my dad shouting at him,” he added.
“I ran over to get them to leave him alone, I was irate, I threatened them to get off my dad and back down, in hindsight it was not the best way to deal with the incident. I was not thinking straight or acting rationally, I was really concerned for my dad. People do crazy things when they see loved ones in trouble.
“I will learn from my mistake and apologise once again.”
