Star player exodus from national teams

By Edmundo
October 12 2006

Sergej Barbarez and Stilian Petrov, captains of Bosnian and Bulgarian national team respectively, have announced their shock international retirements starting with immediate effect. The news broke after the European Qualification matches this Wednesday.

Petrov, 27, did not initially want to comment on the reasons behind his decision, but later underlined his bad relationship with Hristo Stoitchkov as the problem. The news came as a shock for the rest of the team.

"He told us about his plans on Wednesday evening after the match. We tried to persuade him to change his mind for a long time. We hope he will choose to return", commented Dimitar Berbatov.

Barbarez, 35, mentioned the difficulty of combining domestic and international football for a player his age as the main reason for his action. There is no drama behind his retirement.

Both players moved to new clubs this summer, Barbarez from HSV to Leverkusen and Petrov from Celtic to Aston Villa, and have made lively start at their new homes.