“A real scandal, the most serious thing I have seen in my life. They have whistled us for a non-existent offside and they have eaten two book penalties ”. That is how pissed off Xavi Hernández ended up
after losing his team, Al Sadd, (1-2) to Saudi Al Nassr, on the last day of the Champions League.
The play that definitively altered the Al Sadd coach occurred in the 87th minute,
when the light reflected a 1-2 in favor of the Saudi team.
The Korean Tae Hee took advantage of a great assist to stand alone in front of the Al Nassr goalkeeper,
but incomprehensibly the Syrian referee,
Masoud TuFaylieh, whistled offside,
when the repetition was seen that he was in legal position, starting half a meter behind than the last defender.
This action angered the Al Sadd bench, who quickly got up from the bench to complain about the huge mistake (the spirits were already hot because
the braid had eaten two book penalties in the Al Nass area). Xavi surpassed the technical area, showing his absolute rejection of this decision,
putting his hands on his head repeatedly, and touching his cheek, implying the hard face of the referee, while his assistant and brother, Óscar, also showed his form. angry his rejection of such a mistake, raising his arms and demanding justice repeatedly.
The fourth official quickly informed the referee, who decided to send them off with a direct red card. But it did not end here, since as
soon as the game ended, several Al Sadd players quickly went to the Syrian referee to reproach him for his attitude,
some even applauding, ironically, in Masoud's face.
Among the most outraged was captain Santi Cazorla, scorer of Al Sadd's only goal.
Xavi, visibly saddened, had to wait in the locker room tunnel to greet his players one by one.
Group D of the Asian Champions has finished with Al Nassr, a team that played at home, classified in first position, with 11 points, and qualified for the round of 16, while
Al Sadd, second with 10 points, will have to wait to the games this Friday to find out if they finally qualify or not for the next phase.