Zanetti criticises fourth official after Auda defeat

Auda head coach Didier Zanetti said he would not accept what he described as disrespectful treatment by fourth official Deniss Kozlovs after his side lost 2-1 away to Daugavpils in the Virsliga on Monday. Auda had already secured third place and rotated their starting line-up for the match.

Zanetti said he had asked why Auda were not awarded a late penalty and why only two minutes of added time were shown. He received a yellow card after Kozlovs called on referee Vasilijs Mordatenko to caution him, the coach said, adding that his attempts to ask for an explanation were met with indifference.

“I am saying publicly that this is the last time a referee treats me like this,” Zanetti said at his post-match press conference. He insisted that poor defending, rather than the officials, was to blame for the defeat, but questioned why Kozlovs had worked on the match while also being employed by Daugavpils’ academy.

Zanetti, who said he was in his 27th season in football, said his complaint was about the officials’ manner rather than their standard of refereeing. He added that his job was to protect his players, citing two elbows struck at one of them, and warned that such behaviour away from football would be “dangerous for him, not for me”.

Source: sportacentrs.com