Bulgaria's Petrovs Out of Squad for Hungary Friendly

Arsenal`s Aaron Ramsey (R) challenges Aston Villa`s Stiliyan Petrov (L) during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium in London, Britain, 15 May 2011. EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria will go to the friendly game against Hungary later this month without two of its top players – Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov.

Coach Lyuboslav Penev didn't spell out his arguments for dropping the Petrovs when announcing the line-up of the team on Wednesday.

The move reminds of the recently dismissed former coach Lothar Matthaeus' tactics, who left out of the match against Belarus the most experienced pair only to be put to shame after a humiliating but well-deserved defeat.

The Petrovs, who play for Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers, have recently denied media reports that they plan to quit the national team after the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

Bulgaria will play with Hungary on February 29 in Gyor.

Former Parma striker Valeri Bojinov, who never made a secret of his negative feelings for the former coach and vowed never to wear the Bulgarian shirt while Matthaeus is in charge, will be back.

Penev failed to convince former captain Dimitar Berbatov to return to the squad, but media reports say the famous striker is considering a comeback to Bulgaria's national side for its friendly against the Netherlands on May 26.

The Bulgarian quit the national football team on May 13 2010, leaving his tally for Bulgaria standing at the record 48 goals from 77 matches.

 

Following is the line-up of the Bulgarian squad for Hungary game:

Goalkeepers: Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente), Stoyan Kolev (Tchernomorets).

Defenders: Ivan Ivanov (Partizan Belgrade),Valentin Iliev (Steaua Bucharest), Veselin Minev (Antaliaspor), Ivan Bandalovski (CSKA Sofia), Yordan Minev (Ludogorets), Nikolay Bodurov (Litex Lovech), Petar Zanev (Litex Lovech), Stanislav Manolev (PSV Eindhoven).

Midfielders: Svetoslav Dyakov (Ludogorets), Georgi Sarmov (Kasimpasa), Vladimir Gadzhev (Levski Sofia), Boris Galchev (CSKA Sofia), Georgi Milanov (Litex Lovech), Hristo Zlatinski (Lokomotiv Plovdiv).

Forwards: Valeri Bojinov (Lecce), Alexander Tonev (Lech), Mihail Alexandrov (Ludogorets), Emil Gargorov (Ludogorets), Ivelin Popov (Gaziantep), Ivan Stoyanov (Ludogorets).

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