Stade Malien coach Mauril Njoya believes the Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) technology wasn’t working properly in his side’s 3-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League on Friday.
Sundowns comfortably defeated the champions of Mali at Loftus Versfeld in the1st leg of their quarter-final encounter to put themselves in the driving seat of the tie before the 2nd leg in Bamako next week.
Njoya’s men would need to at least score three goals without conceding to take the game to extra-time on penalties, or win by at least four goals without conceding to progress to the semis.
Meanwhile two of the goals that were scored by the Brazilians had been flagged for offside before VAR intervened and eventually overturned the decision and allowed the goals to stand.
Njoya critiqued the condition of the technology while also saying Sundowns players put pressure on the man in the middle.
“No I didn’t watch [the VAR replays],” answered Njoya when asked by iDiski Times about VAR moments. “But there’s something I think was wrong when Mamelodi Sundowns players are putting pressure on the referee.”
“I think that shouldn’t be happening and I don’t know if VAR is working perfectly. It looked like it was not working perfectly. But overall I did say Mamelodi Sundowns deserve a win.”
Les Stadiens will host Sundowns next Friday in the return leg, with Sundowns having to face Marumo Gallants on Tuesday before their seven-hour chartered flight to Mali.
