Al Ahli’s Cosmin Olaroiu bemoans referee’s ‘big mistake’ in Champions League

'There were two sides of the match' said Cosmin Olaroiu after Al Ahli saw a 1-0 advantage turn into a 2-1 defeat against Jeddah's Al Ahli on Tuesday in the Asian Champions League with an errant-appearing red card.

Comsin Olaroiu's Al Ahli are two points back of Uzbekistan club Nasaf Qarshi for the second Asian Champions League last 16 place out of Group D with one match to play. Sarah Dea / The National

Cosmin Olaroiu believes Al Ahli were robbed of a great chance to return home with three points from their Asian Champions League match in Jeddah on Tuesday night, following the referee's shocking decision to send off Majed Hassan.

Everton Ribeiro had given Ahli a 15th-minute lead against their Saudi namesake and the visitors were doing a fine job of defending that advantage until the Qatari official flashed a second yellow card for Hassan in the 62nd minute.

The decision was a shocker since Hassan was not close to Bruno Cesar when the Brazilian fell over just outside the box, after Ribeiro had clipped his heels.

Taking advantage of their numbers, Mohannad Assiri equalised for the hosts in the 77th minute and then Cesar struck the winner in the fourth minute of added time.

"There were two sides of the match," said Olaroiu, who was fined Dh25,000 by the UAE Football Association's disciplinary committee for his criticism of Emirati referee Yaqoub Al Hammadi following a 2-2 draw against rivals Al Nasr in an Arabian Gulf League match last week.

“The first one was before the red card while the second phase was when we played with 10 men because things changed and our opponents took advantage of their superiority.

“We opened the scoring in the match and held on to our lead, but the red card changed the course of the match because we had to make some changes which affected us.

“We were forced to replace [Oussama] Assaidi with a young player [Waleed Hussain] in the midfield. So this expulsion cost us a lot. We had to pay a heavy price for it.

“I know Ahli were playing at home, among their fans, and they are a good team. So it is quite possible they could have turned things around even if Majed was not sent off. But if we were 11 players against 11 and they beat us by five goals, we would not have left the ground angry.

“But losing a match like this, because of an error, hurts. Both the teams had played a great game, a big game, so it is even more disappointing – to see a big mistake like this happening in such a game.”

The win has confirmed the Saudi club’s place in the last 16 of the tournament, but Olaroiu’s men will have to wait two more weeks to see if they can also advance to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time.

Ahli will host Tractor Sazi in their final group game on May 5. They not only have to beat the Iranians but also hope the Saudi club do them a favour by stealing at least a point at Nasaf Qarshi on the same day.

“We still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages and we will not give up,” Olaroiu said. “We will do our best to get the win against the Iranian team and then we will wait and see what happens in the other match.”

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