Esperance coach raises doubts over penalty as Downs reach CL final

Beaumelle questioned the call that saw goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said penalised for a foul on striker Bryan Leon, with the forward converting from the spot to seal a 2-0 aggregate win for Sundowns at Loftus Stadium. 

Speaking after the match, the Esperance mentor expressed his disappointment with the call, which ultimately ended their hopes of reaching the final.

"I'm sad when you reach the dressing room, everybody is down, they are disappointed. First of all I would like to congratulate the boys for their efforts, they respected the plan from the beginning of the game. I think we were controlling the game here in Sundowns which is never easy,” Beaumelle  said.

“They did exactly what we planned, so, for that, I just want to congratulate them and then one decision, stupid decision changed the game. Then when you are running after the game, the score is quite difficult, you have to adapt to change your mind, to try to do some substitution to score as fast as possible. 

“I think it was a tough game, all the players from my side and from Sundowns, they did their best. I think it was very tense and I just want to congratulate all the athletes because at the end of the day it was a fantastic game. 

“A real game of champions league semi-final, unfortunately, some people kill the game a bit but otherwise it's in the name of football, we have to accept and to try to come back stronger next season. A lot of young players without experience in my team."

READ: Miguel Cardoso: CAF final proof Mamelodi Sundowns made the right call

The Frenchman elaborated further on why the penalty decision should have been scrutinised more by the match officials. 

"I saw on the video, the penalty, Leon came to put pressure, he did well but he put the head then he took out the head, of course the goalkeeper cannot allow the striker to go into the goalpost,” the coach added.

“For me, it's a disaster decision, for football, you kill the game and we did well. We continued playing, we continued trying to push, we made a lot of efforts and that's it. I think 0-0 we were still in and one goal, we were playing maybe a penalty. 

“We never know in football as I said sometimes at the last second there's a corner, there's a situation but tonight unfortunately we didn't score but yes, the penalty affects a lot because it's not fair."