Club Africain weak and won’t go further - MCA’s Hachoud

Abderrahmane Hachoud of MC Alger during the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup match between Mbabane Swallows and MC Alger at the Somhlolo Stadium, Lombamba Swaziland on 02 June 2017 ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

by Graeme Jackson

Tuesday Sep 26, 2017. 13:00

Club Africain are “one of the weakest teams” in the CAF Confederation Cup, according to MC Alger defender Abderahmane Hachoud.

CA won 2-0 in Rades on Sunday night to clinch a 2-1 aggregate victory in the tie against MCA and progress into the semifinals of the continental competition.

However, Hachoud believes CA were the beneficiaries of poor officiating, especially in regards to Moatza Zemizemi’s early penalty which leveled the tie at 1-1.

“I cannot even find the words to express my disappointment and that of my teammates, because we were simply robbed,” Hachoud is quoted by Le Buteur.

“Since the start of the competition, Club Africain has been one of the weakest teams we have ever met,” the MCA defender added.

“To answer your question, it is not only the imaginary penalty that the referee offered the Tunisians to relaunch them in the match.

“This referee has deprived us of a flagrant penalty that he did not whistle after a handball in the penalty area, without talking about the aggressiveness of the Tunisians that he did not sanction.”

Hacoud continued, “It was a war, not a football game. We are very disappointed because we had the means to win this African Cup, but the referee wanted it differently.

“What happened, I have never seen it in my career. Club Africain will not go far in this African Cup, I say it again, it is one of the weakest teams that we met during this test.”

Club African will face SuperSport United in the semifinals, with the first leg in Pretoria set to be played this coming weekend.