Deschamps slams refereeing
ByReuters
Published 27/05/2004 at 08:37 GMT
Monaco coach Didier Deschamps criticised the refereeing and remained vague about his own future after his side's 3-0 defeat by Porto in Wednesday's Champions League final. "There were three or four offside calls which were actually wrong and things l
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"There was notably a situation where Fernando Morientes would have been in an ideal position to score," added the former France captain, referring to the 30th minute when the Spanish striker broke clear but was harshly penalised for offside.
Porto opened the scoring through Brazilian Carlos Alberto nine minutes later before taking control in the second half.
"Porto have more experience than we have and were the better team but there were a few episodes in that game that did not play in our favour," added Deschamps.
The Monaco coach also pointed out that losing captain Ludovic Giuly through a groin injury after 23 minutes hard hurt his team's chances.
"Ludovic is an important player whose skills are a vital component of our attacking game and losing him was a blow," said Deschamps.
"If Porto lose (playmaker) Deco after five minutes, then it's a different story," he added.
Deschamps paid tribute to a great run in the competition by his young team, who knocked out Real Madrid and Chelsea on the way to their first final.
"We've had a fantastic season and it's tough to end it without a title," he said. "My players would have deserved a title as a reward for what they have achieved."
The Frenchman, who played in five Champions League finals as a player, winning two, is now expected to leave Monaco and has been linked to two of his former clubs, Juventus and Chelsea.
"This is not the right moment to talk about that," he said. "I'll do that later. First of all I need to take a few days to quietly analyse the situation."
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