Russian Commentator Suspended After Falling Asleep During Barcelona Game

Dozing during the football is in fashion right now, it seems.

But for one Russian television commentator it proved a rather costly nap, with Vasily Utkin suspended from his position with Match TV after falling asleep during Barcelona's Champions League group stage draw with Bayer Leverkusen last year, reports the Guardian.

But Utkin, a controversial figure in Russian football media thanks to a public spat with colleague Tina Kandelaki last year, claims he suffers from a chronic sleep disorder.

Speaking to the Russian news agency TASS, he said (via the Guardian):

"

I am convinced that [the suspension] is due to this commentary in the game between Bayer and Barça. But I wasn’t spoken to just about this game. I can explain what happened in the match. For a few years, I’ve been suffering from chronic sleep disorder. It just so happened that at the end of the first half, I fell asleep and I was talking in my sleep. Naturally, it is very easy to understand that this is the case, because in the second half there were no problems at all.

"

Match TV was created by Russian president Vladimir Putin last year and is owned by the state energy company Gazprom.

As for the match in question, Leo Messi and Javier Hernandez scored in a 1-1 draw in Germany.

[Guardian]