Jose Riveiro believes it was a deserved penalty for Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final after a “deliberate handball” by Victor Letsoalo.
The Spanish coach completed the double after Pirates beat Sekhukhune United 2-1 in the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday thanks to a n injury-time winner by Terrence Dzvukamanja.
However, the big talking point of the game in injury-time of the first half when referee Thando Ndzandzeka pointed to the spot for a handball by Victor Letsoalo.
The Sekhukhune forward was lying on the floor and seemed to have touched the ball as Thembinkosi Lorch wanted to dribble past him – with Riveiro stating he agreed with the match officials decision.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, why he ended up on the grass, whether it was a fall or not,” he said after the match.
“Then Lorch tried to overpass him and I’ve seen the picture, where the player is touching the ball deliberately with the hand.
“But still, you can imagine, I didn’t [yet] have the opportunity to watch the action – any action of the game. So my opinion in this case doesn’t help anybody.”
Before the post-match press conference, an emotional Riveiro also explained what the victory means to him, running out of words and nearly overcome by tears.
“My players did everything, it’s not easy to play in an exciting day like today,”
“We are learning, we are getting better. We want to play more finals, so this is going to be a good learning process for us.
“I’m extremely happy with the victory, as you can imagine, for everybody, for the fans, for the people in the club, family, friends…”
