Maradona defends lucky Al Wasl victory
Suspect penalty and own goal fail to dent coach’s delight at three points gained in last 12 minutes against Al Ahli
Dubai Diego Maradona defended Al Wasl’s controversial 2-1 win over Al Ahli on Saturday after a questionable penalty and own goal overturned Grafite’s 36th minute opener.
Al Ahli defender Yousuf Mohammad was unlucky twice, f irst ruled to have fouled Ali Khalatbari for the penalty turned in by Mariano Donda in the 78th minute, before t urning Khalatbari’s cross into his own net on the 83rd.
Maradona said: “I’m not just happy, I’m extremely happy. I’m so happy I cannot even express my happiness and even though it was dodgy like you said — the penalty and the own goal — it doesn’t change the way I feel about this win today.”
Asked if Khalatbari dived for the penalty, Maradona added: “I don’t want to talk about the penalty because in the game against Al Nasr we conceded a similar goal undeserved on 95 minutes for Al Nasr to equalise. As far as I’m concerned there’s nothing to say.
“When we win I have a better argument to ask for reinforcements. We need new players and we needed them before but because of results I wasn’t in a position to make requests.
“I need a large team to be able to rotate and choose my best squad every match. After this win I will sit with management and look to reinforce the squad with a couple of players.”
Opposing coach Quique Sanches Flores cursed his team’s luck.
“We played well for the total match but in the last ten minutes some strange t hi ngs c hanged ever ything,” he said.
Referee’s role
“Normally I don’t talk about the referees but today’s situation was different because the ref changed the outcome too much. I prefer to think that this is football and not talk about it.
“It wasn’t a penalty — the player got the ball. They were lucky and sometimes luck is very important in football, luck is necessary. With the referee and the own goal Al Wasl were able to win without having any other chance on goal and that’s strange.”
Maradona also had gripe with the referee.
“Certain decisions angered me,” he said. “Grafite kicked the ball away and wasted time and didn’t get booked but Rashid Eisa did the same and got a yellow card. The rules should not only be applied to Al Wasl, they should be applied to all.
“Of course I’m going to be angry. What do you want me to do — sit back, watch them make these ridiculous decisions and drink coffee?”
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