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Chennaiyin FC beat Bengaluru 2-1 at the Kanteerava Stadium to draw level with them on 12 points in the ISL table and it was a derby game that saw a scuffle break out after the full-time whistle.
Bengaluru's players were unhappy with a number of the referee's decisions and surrounded him in a bid to get answers after the game. However, a few Chennaiyin players also got into the act and that was when the situation snowballed into an all-out confrontation between the two teams.
Chennaiyin skipper Henrique Sereno was also in the melee and he put the blame squarely on Bengaluru captain Sunil Chhetri for allegedly pushing the referee.
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"I didn't like what I saw." Sereno said after the game. "I saw the captain speaking with the referee and pushing him. And I said to him: 'What are you doing? You are the captain and you must control the players.'
"When he does that then everyone is going to fight and that's what happened. It's not good but sometimes it happens."
However, Blues coach Albert Roca blamed a couple of Chennaiyin players for showing poor attitude with their victory celebrations in front of the players which saw tempers flare.
Also read: Chennaiyin need to learn to respect opponents, says Bengaluru coach Roca
Bengaluru played better but Chennaiyin did enough: Sereno
However, he also praised the home side for putting up a fight and described them as ne of the best teams in the competition alongside table-toppers FC Goa. All three teams are tied on 12 points each with only Goal Difference separating the three sides.
"They are one of the best teams," Sereno said. "Today we didn't play better than them but we did enough to win the game. And I think it's well deserved because they didn't have too many chances.
"They attacked more than us, of course, but we defended very well. In the counter-attack they could have scored two or three goals but they scored only one. And in the end [Dhanpal] Ganesh gave us the victory."
The Portuguese defender was also happy with his side's defensive organisation on the pitch which strangled the Blues and prevented the home side from taking shots on goal to test goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.
"We conceded one goal that we normally do not concede but unfortunately we did. But in the end everyone did a good job [to keep them at bay]."
Fans on Twitter were also furious with the referee's performance. Here are some reactions:
