Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro was not pleased with the performance of the match officials in their loss to Mamelodi Sundowns and expressed his dissatisfaction implicitly.
After the final whistle in Pirates' narrow 1-0 defeat to Sundowns, Riveiro was seen having a go at match officials, led by referee on the day, Masixole Bambiso, as he was seemingly unhappy with certain aspects of their refereeing decisions.
Read: Once A Pirate! Modabi's New Bucs Role Confirmed
The Spanish mentor, without saying it directly, questioned the suitability of the referee in such a big game.
"It was an emotional game, Pirates made mistakes, Sundowns made mistakes and somebody else as well I guess," Riveiro said in a press conference.
"I said many times that being a referee is the last thing I'm going to do in this business, it's not for me. It's so difficult, that's why you really have to be prepared.
"It's so difficult to be a referee, you really need to be prepared. When a game is a game like Pirates, Sundowns you cannot expect an easy game, it's very simple. You have to be prepared for that game," he said.
Read: Pirates Coach: Everybody Can Understand Who Was Better Why
Riveiro was asked whether having a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system would help improve refereeing decisions but he was adamant the issue has to do with fair play and not necessarily the applications of rules.
"Now it's your decision to analyze, if you want to do it, it could be interesting, if the game was well managed, because VAR referees or not it's very difficult," he went on.
Open a tab account, it's easy and start betting on local and international soccer now!
"It's not only (to) apply the rules, it's much more than that, it's to understand what the other team is doing, what the other team is trying to do, to counteract and then try to be fair.
"We're coming from a World Cup very recently, where we all had the time to see extra times of 14, 15 minutes, am I right or wrong? But we want to do things differently, it's fine.
"I'm not talking about decisions on the field but there are things in the refereeing which are very easy," he insisted.
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.
