As both teams marched towards the dugout at the end of the match the host spectators still had plenty to watch for, as there was an unexpected hustle between Pires and Habas wherein both had to be separated by the players before it could worsen.
At the post match conference FC Goa’s coach Zico alleged that Pires was assaulted at the break by the opposition coach.
“Pires said he was punched on the face by the Atletico coach and it is very shameful. I am telling you what my players told me and I didn’t see that myself but I don’t think that Pires will lie and say something that didn’t happen” said Zico.
“And when the team entered the field in the second half, they were very nervous and during the half time we were only trying to control their nerves and calm them down”. Zico added further.
Zico further stated that he has no clue if the referee had seen the incident at half time but the matter will be reported by submitting a written complaint to the officials.
“What happened today was very regretful” added Zico
On the other hand in the absence of Atletico’s head coach at the post match conference Atletico’s team manager Rajat Ghoshdar stated that the incident happened in front of Atletico’s dressing room at half time.
Ghoshdhar further stated that the host players had come up to their boundary and the visiting team didn’t go to the host team to attack them.
The visiting team even tried to skip the post match conference but turned up later only after the media questioned organisers about their rude approach to football ethics.
