“The players were smoking hookah a day before the crucial game in Moscow. I was so upset and refused to prepare hookah for them,” recalls an employee of the restaurant where the players were “warming up” early on November 14.

Meanwhile, workers at the Grand Mariott Hotel, where the Russian national team usually stay, claim the players often order alcohol, hookah and “many other amusements.”

”That night, Guus Hiddink was sitting in the foyer, but when he went to sleep at around 2am, the party began,” a source in the hotel says.

The Russian Football Union has yet to comment on the issue.

Ironically, Russia managed to win the first leg game 2-1 on November 14. While they lost 0-1 on the road four days later in Slovenia, where they apparently adhered to regime.