Atletico de Kolkata coach Habas blames referee, says it was not fair play

Habas (1st from right) was unhappy with crucial refereeing decisions going against his side.(Picture courtesy ISL)

As FC Goa were chasing the game and searching for an equalizer, an almighty confusion descended near the dugout which brought the game to a grinding halt. Zico wanted to bring on Jonatan Lucca in place of Denson Devadas who was already on a booking. But with six foreign players already on the pitch, the Brazilian coach was forced to make another change to replace Elinton Andrade in order to accommodate Lucca.

What ensued was a huge mix-up between the fourth referee and the Goan players.

“It was not good for us because we lost so much time. We were pressing the game and it was not good,” Zico said about how his team’s flow was disrupted by the incident. Zico was wildly gesturing near the dug-out while their midfielder Jofre decided to pick up digital board himself and force the substitution which drew loud cheers from the fans.

However, the coach admitted that he was happy with the performance his players put in to pull back a goal.

“All my players, I congratulate them because they did everything to search for a result. Sometimes we were a little bit reckless to make the result fast. The number of wrong passes was much higher in this game than the last game. But I go home really happy with my team’s performance,” he added.

Meanwhile, Atletico De Kolkata coach Antonio Lopez Habas who saw his team play nearly half an hour with 10-men was unhappy with the referees.

“We don’t have a tackle and we have seven yellow cards. It is catastrophic. I don’t want to come here to India for that,” the Spaniard said. In fact, Atletico had a total of six bookings rather than seven as suggested by Habas. However, the coach felt that his team was treated unfairly.

“I believe in fair play, but this is not fair play. But I cannot do anything about the referee,” he further added. The coach was happy with the four points that his team picked up from two tough away fixtures. “Four points is good for us even though I wanted six. I played with more defence because today is very difficult game for us,” the coach conceded.

FC Goa and defending champions Atletico de Kolataka played out a fiercely contested 1-1 draw in the Fifth match of the 2nd edition of the ISL on Wednesday.