Pitso Mosimane says wrong offside calls cost Mamelodi Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane feels they lost their CAF Champions League quarterfinal against Wydad Casablanca in the first leg due to incorrect offside calls made by the referee’s assistant.

Sundowns took a slender 1-0 lead to Rabat for the second leg encounter which was played at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Saturday night, as they were looking to edge closer to a second consecutive title.

The game finished 1-1 in regulation time and Wydad went on to win 3-2 on penalties, as they joined USM Alger and Phakamani Mahlambi’s Al Ahly in the semi-final.

Al-Ahly Tripoli and Etoile du Sahel will battle it out for the last semi-final spot on offer in Sousse today.

“I think we lost in Pretoria. In Pretoria we had three balls [that were ruled offside],” said Mosimane after the match.

“The referee said it’s offside, but it was not offside. We would have scored three goals, like last year we scored three [against Zamalek]."



He continued: “It’s very sad for football."

Mosimane said they were not in Morocco to defend their slender lead.

“I think we played very well. We came here to play and not to sit back but unfortunately in penalties anybody can win. But congratulations to Wydad,” said the former Bafana Bafana coach.

“We pressed. We were not scared to lose. We saw that they could not take the stress and we played in their half and put them under pressure. You could see that they could not take the ball out of their half. But I have to give them credit [because] in the first half they really showed that they want to win."