Ferreira: We lost on penalties; single-legged match is unfair

Al-Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira spoke to the media, expressing his disappointment after Al-Sadd lost to Esteghlal on penalties in the 2017 AFC Champions League. This means that Al-Sadd are out of the tournament.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Ferreira said: “I congratulate Esteghlal for reacing the group stage. The match was difficult and hard-fought. We were better in the second half, we managed to control the ball and move it around in an orderly fashion. We threatened their goal on many occasions but luck did not favour us.”

Ferrerira continued: “The players fought well but it was not a beautiful game of football from either team. This is how it is for a knockout game. We lost on penalties as we did last season against Al-Jazira.”

The boss also added: “Knockout matches like this the defeated team has to go out, are unfair. Al-Sadd produced a great match in terms of pressure and a lot of other things which could have given us the win.”

Ferreira went on to state that the Omani referee Ahmed Al-Kaf did very well. “However, Al-Sadd had a clear penalty appeal  in the 86th but it was not given; it could have given us the advantage.” he said.

The Portuguese concluded by saying: “We did what we had to during the two halves of the match and also in extra time. The players were great. But when it comes to penalties, nobody can interfere. I thank the players for their performance.”