Captian of the Bulgarian national team Stilian Petrov has turned his back on international football in the wake of Wednesday's 1-0 win over Luxembourg in a Euro 2008 qualifier.
"I do not want to play on the national team under the management of coach Hristo Stoichkov,” the 27-year-old Aston Villa and former Celtic midfielder said on October 12. "I realise this comes unexpectedly for the Bulgarian football community, but it is not on the spur of the moment. Just the contrary - I have thought over my decision quite well."
Petrov has won 66 caps for Bulgaria, scoring seven goals.
Initially Petrov said he would officially announce his decision to quit on October 14, but decided to "cut short any speculation on the subject" and announce his reasons on Thursday.
Earlier, Stoichkov said there had been no row between the two men.
"There's no conflict between me and Stilian," said Stoichkov after returning from Wednesday's victory. "He is a very important figure in our squad, he's our captain and will remain our captain while I'm the coach."
Petrov said he would continue to support Bulgaria, who are second in the group table, despite making his shock announcement.
"From the bottom of my heart I hope they qualify for the Euro 2008 finals," said the 27-year-old former CSKA Sofia star.
The skilful Petrov joined Premier League side Villa from Scottish champions Celtic in August for eight million pounds ($14.86 million).
Stoichkov is hoping Petrov will reassess his decision.
"There's a lot of time until our next match and I think we don't have to say anything rashly," said Bulgaria's coach. "It's possible this was made out of emotion. I have no idea why he made this step but he has always been a tough guy and we'll have to respect his decision."
But Petrov’s teammates weren’t so blase.
"It was like a bolt from the blue," said striker Dimitar Berbatov. "He shared his intention with all of us last night after the match and we stayed late trying to persuade him to change his mind.”
Berbatov remained optimistic, however.
“We still hope he'll change his decision. We are all very surprised but as you know time heals and we hope he'll be with us in our next game," added the Tottenham Hotspur forward.
"It's a very unpleasant situation because he's one of our key players," said Bulgarian Football Union president Borislav Mihailov. "It's astonishing. No one expected such news. It came in a moment when we have a very good atmosphere in the team and we're achieving positive results in our group."
Bulgaria have won two and drawn two in Group G and lies two points behind top-ranked Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Martin Petrov ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Atletico Madrid's 2-1 win over Recreativo Huelva and will be sidelined for at least six months.
Petrov, who was carried off the field on a stretcher in the 38th minute of Saturday's game, joined Atletico in an 8.2 million euro (US$10 million) transfer from German club Wolfsburg in July.
Petrov, who has scored four goals in qualifiers for the 2008 European Championship, will undergo surgery on Monday, the club said Sunday. He may not be fit for Bulgaria’s match against Albania in March 2007.
It’s another hard blow for Stoichkov, who will have to cope without two of Bulgaria’s best players.
On Wednesday evening, Bulgarian football registered another unpleasant blow as the Belgium under-21 won the playoff second leg 4:1 and seals 5:2 aggregate success through to their first UEFA European Championship finals since 2002.
Expectations were high at the Bulgarska Armiya stadium after Bulgaria drew 1:1 against Roeselare on Saturday, only for the home side to find themselves 2:0 down at half-time thanks to goals from Stijo Desmet and Maarten Martens.
Tsvetan Genkov reduced arrears before Bulgarian duo Plamen Nikolov and Ivo Ivanov were sent off either side of Desmet’s second goal. Legear completed the scoring in the 89th minute as the Red Devils made amends for missing out at this stage last season.
