Aftermath of the Riyadh Derby
The Spanish coach Emmanuel Alguacil, Shabab's manager, voiced strong anger after the Riyadh derby defeat to Al-Nassr, 3-2, in Round 16 of the Roshn Saudi Pro League.
Shabab sit on 11 points in 14th place, while Al-Nassr move to 34 points in second.
After the match, Alguacil told the press: “With all due respect to Al-Nassr and all its players, it was the referee who granted them the victory tonight.”
He added: “I don't want to talk more; you all saw what happened in the match... what happened today was unfair, because the encounter was balanced, but the referee decided to send off Siro.”
He continued: “The sending off was incorrect, and tomorrow we will meet with the refereeing committee; Al-Nassr had around 48 hours more rest than us, but we managed to show a strong character, especially after trailing by two goals.”
He emphasized: “We had a reaction and scored, and when we dominated the match, the referee refused to continue with 11 players, and he issued a red card.”
On the technical level, Alguacil said: “I am the first to admit we made mistakes at the start of the match, and I take responsibility for what happened at the beginning, but after conceding the two goals we managed to correct the course; for long periods we were better than Al-Nassr, then you saw what happened with the referee.”
He concluded: “I didn't speak except for what I saw on the field, and what everyone who was at the stadium witnessed; imagine a ball that isn't a foul counted as a second yellow and your player is sent off.”
Punchline 1: If refereeing were a reality show, this derby would win the season.
Punchline 2: The only thing more offside than our passes was the referee’s decision.
