Espérance Sportive de Tunis head coach Patrice Beaumelle has expressed strong anger over a controversial penalty awarded to Mamelodi Sundowns FC, insisting the decision “killed the game” in their CAF Champions League semi-final clash over the weekend.
The Tunisian giants were eliminated 2-0 on aggregate after Sundowns sealed progression, with forward Brayan Leon proving decisive across both legs. The turning point came in Pretoria, where Leon earned and converted a penalty after pressuring experienced goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said into a costly mistake inside the box.
However, Beaumelle was far from convinced by the referee’s decision, describing it as a “stupid” call that completely altered the momentum of the tie.
“I would like to congratulate the boys for their efforts, they respected the game plan. I think in the beginning we were controlling the game here in Sundowns which is never easy,” Beaumelle said.
“They did exactly what we planned so for that I just want to congratulate them. And then one stupid decision changed the game and then when you're running after the game, the score is quite difficult. You have to adapt, to change your mind, to try to do some substitutions to score as fast as possible.”
The French tactician admitted the match was intense and highly competitive but insisted the penalty incident swung the balance unfairly against his side.
“But I think it was a tough game, all the players from my side and from Sundowns did the maximum, I think it was a very tense match and I just want to congratulate all the athletes because at the end of the day it was a fantastic game, a real game of Champions League in the semi-final, unfortunately some people killed the game,” he added.
Beaumelle, who previously coached the Angola national team, maintained that his side still had hope of turning the tie around before the penalty changed the entire outlook of the contest.
“I saw the penalty on the video, Leon came to put pressure and did well. He put the head but took out the head, of course, the goalkeeper cannot lose the striker and let him go in the goalpost, but for me it's a disaster of a decision for football — you kill the game,” he said.
“And we did well, we continued playing and trying to push, we made a lot of efforts and that's it. I think in nil-nil we were still in [the game] and one goal we would play penalties maybe, we never know in football.”
He concluded by insisting the decision was unjust and had a major psychological impact on his players.
“As I said, sometimes in the last seconds there's a corner or a situation but today unfortunately we didn't score, but the penalty affected a lot because it's not fair to be honest.”
