Juan Pedro Benali upset with referee after draw against Kerala Blasters

Juan Pedro Benali calls for patience in NorthEast United’s gameplay.

Juan Pedro Benali, the head coach of NorthEast United FC, has spoken about the decisions of referees in the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 season.

NorthEast United FC and Kerala Blasters FC shared one point, after a 1-1 draw in Guwahati, on Sunday, After this result, Kerala Blasters have jumped to fifth position, followed by NorthEast United at sixth.

The controversies

NorthEast United FC had suffered referees’ decisions in their second ISL match against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in Kolkata and today, against the Blasters. Against the Mariners in Kolkata on the 23rd of September, the second goal sparked controversy.

Gurmeet Singh, the goalkeeper of NorthEast United, seemed to have collected a ball in that watch, which was slipped from his hand in the first instance. However, Subhasish Bose gave his foot, and the ball went inside the net.

In the match against Kerala Blasters FC, referee Pranjal Banerjee gave Asheer Akhtar of NorthEast United a direct red card for his foul.

ALSO READ: AFC U20 Qualifiers: India fail to make it out of group on goal-difference

On referees decision

Juan Pedro Benali shared his disappointment over the referee’s decision in the post-match press conference. Juan said, “I just saw their goal and saw the card. Before they scored, it was a foul on Guillermo Fernandez. The referee was going to whistle, then he doubted, and the goal came.”

Juan Pedro Benali opined that the incident of Asheer Akhtar receiving the red card was a yellow card offence. He stated that Asheer had minimal contact with the Kerala Blasters player. “Again, a little mistake against us. Asheer arrived late, yes, but he didn’t touch him. Yellow card, yes, but not a red card.”

The Spanish coach concluded the conversation by saying, “Referees make mistakes, yes. They are human. But they need to be calmer to help everybody.”

On team missing goalscoring chances

Juan Pedro Benali also talked about the team’s mistakes in the attacking half. He said, “We keep repeating the same thing. At the moment, we need to be patient with the ball. Sometimes we’re in a hurry. But when we have something working very well, we stop doing it.”

Adding to this point, Juan said, “You know, we were hurting them from the left side many times, and suddenly we stopped going there and just tried to go from the right side. This is an example of set pieces.

“We were hurting them very well. We just need to be patient and keep going. We just stopped. We just stopped and tried to do something new. We went away from the game plan and then we suffered,” Juan Pedro Benali concluded.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.