Sepahan's Morais Rues Red Card
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Mohammad Daneshgar's red card was the reason for Sepahan FC's late collapse against Al Hilal SFC on Thursday, Iranian club’s head coach Jose Morais said.
The first leg of the AFC Champions League 2023-24 Round of 16 tie looked set to end in a 1-1 stalemate but Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal took full advantage of Daneshgar's sending off to strike twice in added time to take a hefty lead going into next week's rematch in Riyadh.
“The only weakness we had was the red card. I did not see any other weaknesses. Defensive organization is our main strength but I must say conceding the second goal was a surprise as we were defending with nine players to Al Hilal's five,” said Morais.
“We played against a very good team. With one less player, we will definitely face challenges. We suffered and sacrificed ourselves. Sometimes we didn't make the right decisions, but we played a good game before the dismissal,” he added.
“We had many chances but we didn't score, but it's not over yet,” the Portuguese coach added.