Adana Demirspor left the pitch during the first half of their Turkish Super Lig match at Galatasaray on Sunday in protest at a penalty awarded against them.

League leaders Galatasaray took a 12th-minute lead after new signing Alvaro Morata scored the spot-kick against the division’s bottom side.

But as the game continued, Adana Demirspor’s manager Mustafa Alper Avcı called his players over for a brief discussion. Shortly after, the entire Adana Demirspor team walked off the pitch and headed to the dressing room.

The referee then also left the field, and it was later announced that the match had been suspended.

Adana Demirspor vice president Metin Korkmaz said that the decision was directed at the referee board and not Galatasaray.

He added the decision was taken by Adana Demirspor president Murat Sancak who had said “I hope the referee doesn’t want to look cute for Galatasaray,” in a television interview on Saturday.

After the game Sancak confirmed the penalty decision was the reason for instructing the players to quit the match and stressed the move had nothing to do with Galatasaray.

“We were 99% going to lose today anyway,” he added.

The Turkish Football Federation will make the final ruling on the match.

“I don’t think this is a very innocent decision. This is a big damage for Turkish football. I am sorry. There is always an effort to make Turkish football look bad,” Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk said after the game.

A similar incident occurred last season when Istanbulspor also withdrew from the field during their home match against Trabzonspor.

Refereeing and accusations of bias have been an issue in Turkey’s top flight for several years, leading to foreign referees from other leagues being brought in as Video Assistant Referee officials.

Last season referee Halil Umut Meler was punched by MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca at the end of the match.