Don't bother watching the 2019-20 football season, because it's already peaked.It's fair to say that nobody expected Charlton Athletic's friendly with Gaz Metan Medias to be hitting the headlines this week, unless something completely out of the ordinary happened.Well, that's exactly what happened and despite the game being intended as a light-hearted summer exercise, it ended in absolute farce with the game being abandoned after 49 minutes.The Malaga-based game was held under somewhat Sunday League surroundings, with only the club photographer and social media team documenting the fixture.And there was certainly flashes of Sunday League with what actually unfolded, but the game actually started rather calmly and the first 35-minute half passed without incident.
Charlton 1-0 Gaz Metan Medias
George Lapslie had fired Charlton into the lead by rounding the goalkeeper, before Moussa Sanoh and Stephan Draghici came close to levelling the scores for Medias.
However, before the second-half could gain any momentum, a contentious penalty decision would eventually end in the game being scrapped almost half an hour early.
In the words of Charlton's official website: "Just nine minutes after the restart, Taylor was bundled for what was a contentious penalty.
"Outraged by the decision, Medias players Valentin Cretu and Marius Constantin both laid their hands on the referee in disgraceful fashion, leading to extremely distasteful scenes in what was supposed to be a ‘friendly’ match."
Referee abandons the game
With some publications branding it as a mild assault, it will come as little surprise that referee Raul Mateo decided to brandish two red cards.
How did the Romanian team respond? Well, 'furious' Head Coach Edward Iordanescu made the decision to withdraw his players from the match, pack their bags and head home.
That, naturally, was only after there had been handbags on the pitch, but at least Charlton found the funny side of farce by still taking the penalty.
Lyle Taylor - now shooting against a teammate pretending to play for Medias - converted the spot kick with ease and made for an amusing Twitter post on Charlton's account.
It's not often you see a contentious penalty decision sparking two red cards, alleged assault, the match being abandoned and players taking penalties against their own goalkeeper.
Frankly, it's the kind of story you'd hear from that mate who exaggerates everything at the pub, not an actually pre-season friendly involving a Championship team.
If it's any consolation for Lee Bowyer, though, they technically won the fixture and have another friendly with Welling United lined up at the weekend.
They'll be hoping for a little less drama on that occassion before their open up their Championship campaign with games against Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City.
Is this the craziest pre-season friendly in history? Have your say in the comments section below.