Fiston Mayele comments on disallowed goal against Orlando Pirates

Fiston Mayele comments on disallowed goal against Orlando Pirates

Pyramids striker Fiston Mayele believes his goal against Orlando Pirates in the first leg of their CAF Champions League semi-final should have stood.

The well-taken finish by Mayele was disallowed following a VAR review at FNB Stadium last weekend with the fixture ending in a goalless draw, leaving it open in the return leg on Friday.

Egyptian outfit Pyramids had another goal denied when the technology cited a handball to help the visitors gain an advantage.

Speaking ahead of the decisive clash at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo, forward Mayele says the rules “keep changing”.

“There is a lot of things that has changed about football, the goal was a goal 100% because the defender touched ball. The thing is FIFA and CAF changed the regulations a lot, so we don’t know the 100% regulation if it was right or not and now we’re focusing on the next game against Orlando Pirates to qualify for the finals,” Mayele said.

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The 30-year-old attacker adds that he is now putting that controversy behind him and looking forward to securing a place in the final for Pyramids.

“He will not play alone, he will play with the team, he wants help from all the teammates. He will give everything in the pitch to reach the final,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pirates goalkeeper Sipho Chaine argued that VAR was there for a reason despite coach Jose Riveiro saying their defensive frailties had been exposed in that fixture against Pyramids. 

“Not really, just how you look at it, both goals, the one was offside, the one was a handball. I think we did well throughout the whole game, it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t score a goal but that’s the nature of the game, VAR, it’s the fairness of the game and it ended 0-0. I think from that perspective, you can look at it as a big positive that in the Champions League we haven’t conceded much goals,” Chaine said.