O Al Nassr, by Jorge Jesus, received and beat, late this Friday afternoon, Al-Ittihad, by Sérgio Conceição, by 2-0, in a match valid for the 21st round of the Saudi championship in which Cristiano Ronaldo was once again absent.
After the final whistle in this match, Sérgio Conceição, coach of the visiting team, did not hide his fury towards the work of the refereeing team led by Slovenian Slavko Vincic, a judge he confronted even before returning to the locker room.
In the press conference that followed the match, the former FC Porto coach complained about two penalties that, in his opinion, were left unsigned in favor of his team. At issue are touches of the ball with the hands of the Frenchman Mohamed Simakan and the Brazilian Ângelo.
“It was a balanced game between two good teams, but, unfortunately, the referee’s decisions changed its course. The players’ spirit was there, in terms of organization, determination and what was the plan for the game. I think that anyone who understands football understands that it was a very competitive game. It was one of the team’s best games. We made some mistakes, but they did not affect the result of the game”, Sérgio Conceição began by saying, going on to criticize the refereeing.
We had a penalty in the 12th minute and, in the 20th minute, the ball hit Ângelo’s hand. These are two bad decisions by the referee. There was some more offensive bias for Al Nassr, I can admit, but that was also foreseen on our part in strategic terms. We have a play that is not offside, it is a corner for us, and then on the next throw-in there is a penalty for them. These were unfortunate episodes within the game, and they have happened to us repeatedly. We prepared our team to face a strong opponent and the level of both teams was similar”, he continued.
“I don’t have to send any messages to the Arbitration Committee. I’m here commenting on the facts that happened in the game, as I normally do. I also often take responsibility for a bad result or a bad game, as a coach. But there are days when things don’t go well for the referees too, it’s part of the game. I’m commenting on facts, I don’t want to get involved in the league’s competitiveness, I don’t want to get involved in the league’s statements, it’s not my job”, said Sérgio Conceição.
“I have to worry about the team, saying that it was a game that, in competitive terms, I really liked the players, obviously people look at the result and not the content of the game, and send a message that I hope that on Tuesday, this support that we had today for 95 minutes, can be repeated, in a very important game for us”, he maintained.
When asked about the loss of French striker Karim Benzema, who joined Al Hilal during the winter transfer window, Sérgio Conceição replied dryly: “Karim is not part of our team.”
