Everybody knows the referee made a mistake: Pires

Agencies Kolkata, December 11 FC Goa were distraught that referee awarded a controversial penalty in favour of Atletico de Kolkata after Fikru Tefera went tumbling down from an alleged foul by Bruno Pinheiro in the 66th minute. The Ethiopian striker duly converted from the spot and helped his side through to the semi-final at the expense of Delhi Dynamos. “Everybody knows it was a mistake from the referee. But this is life,” said Robert Pires. Ranti Martins too chimed in stating that Pinheiro didn’t get a touch on Fikru and the Atletico de Kolkata had dived. “It was a fluke penalty because nobody touched him. If somebody touches you and you go down it’s still fine,” opined the Nigerian. Meanwhile, Debabrata Roy was more concerned of the fact that Pinheiro would miss the first leg of the semi-finals against Atletico de Kolkata at the Salt Lake Stadium this weekend. “The penalty is not that much of a problem, but the main problem is the suspension of Bruno,” said the full-back. Pires believes that playing Antonio Habas’ side once again in the twin legged semis-finals wasn’t an advantage. “It is not an advantage that we would be playing against the same team again. However, it is indeed a plus point that we would be playing the second leg at home. It was important to finish first or second to play the second leg at home,” he stated.