Esteghlal coach Pitso Mosimane attacks Chinese referee after draw with Riyad Mahrez & Ivan Toney's Al-Ahli in AFC Champions League - 'I was afraid'

Esteghlal FC coach Pitso Mosimane has criticised the refereeing decisions made during his club’s 2-2 draw against Al Ahli Saudi in the AFC Champions League encounter on Monday.

His former team, Al-Ahli received two penalties and successfully converted them to secure a draw while Esteghlal’s Mohammad Eslami was sent off nine minutes before the final whistle.

Although Mosimane acknowledged the result, he was furious about the decisions taken by Chinese referee Ma Ning who was in charge of the game.

“I still have to check on the video, to reduce us to play with 10-man it’s not easy and two penalties here it’s not easy. I was afraid he was going to give the third one [penalty],” Mosimane said after the match in Jeddah.

“Al Ahli is a big team with big stars, they don’t need penalties to score. I’m just not happy that the referee didn’t go to look on the VAR for the second penalty. Why doesn’t he check? It’s a very difficult situation to judge with your eye, that’s why we have VAR.

“On the red card he went to VAR, and he said red card; okay he went to check. But the second penalty why doesn’t he go to check? There were a lot of people there [in the box]. You cannot see with your eye, he decided he’s giving penalties and he’s giving us a red card,” he added.

“I think he’s a professional, he’s not a bad referee, to be honest. But I think he’s going to check his game so he can see if he made the right decision. It’s very sad for us, we thought we could have won here, but we got one point it’s okay.

Mosimane has so far overseen six matches since joining Esteghlal two months ago. He lost three matches, shared the spoils on two occasions, and registered one victory in all competitions. 

The stalemate with Al Ahli, a team he promoted to the Saudi Pro League two seasons back, kept Mosimane’s side in eighth place in the AFC Champions League standings.

Mosimane seems to have now settled down at Esteghlal and he will be focusing on enhancing his team's performance going forward.

The Capital Blues will redirect their focus to the Iran Pro League as they face Foolad Khouzestan on Saturday.