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Turkey No 1 Volkan Demirel decided not to play against Kazakhstan on Sunday night because of the abuse he was receiving from his own fans.
As he attempted to leave the Turk Telecom Arena, home of Galatasaray, the goalkeeper was even confronted by a group of supporters and a brawl broke out (video below) though he emerged unscathed.
The 33-year-old has 63 caps for his country but opted not to play in the Euro 2016 qualifier because fans, believed to be supporters of Galatasaray, were jeering the goalkeeper; Volkan plays for bitter rivals Fenerbahce.
During the warm-up the goalkeeper was being shouted at and decided to go over to speak to fans.
However, this didn't placate the abuse and Volkan signalled to the bench that he was not playing, taking off his gloves and walking away.
Instead, young Basaksehir Volkan Babacan played the match that ended in a 3-1 win for Fatih Terim's side, Burak Yilmiz scoring twice.
Volkan could face a fine or suspension for his walkout, but Terim said he would speak to the player first before deciding on a course of action.
“We will talk about what happened together. Whatever I say will sound irrelevant now,” he told reporters after the game.
“I need to talk to Volkan and other players first. I don’t want to get any false information out there. Volkan was in the changing room and appeared unable to play. He was very upset and left,” Terim said.
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