Luanda - The head-coach of Petro de Luanda, Alexandre Santos, said Saturday night that the team reacted badly to TP Mazembe's equaliser and that the 1-2 win of the visitors was the connsequence of such surprise shift in the game on Saturday.
Speaking to journalists after the second-leg of the quarter-final, played at the 11 de Novembro stadium, he said that the game was going well (Petro winning 1-0 with a goal from Janothan Toro after 29 minutes), but that the equaliser had consequences that resulted in elimination from the African Champions League.
Alexandre Santos believes that it was not a failure to lose against one of the continent's strongest opponents and one that has already won the competition.
He regretted the fact that the team conceded the second goal in the final moments of extra time in a strange way, adding that the focus will now be on the domestic competition.
The goals were scored by Jonathan Toro (29') for Petro, and Kizumbi (81'), Joel Beya (90+6) for TP Mazembe, the latter following an advance by goalkeeper Hugo Marques, who created a numerical advantage in attack in the final moments.
In turn, Lamine Ndiye, TP Mazembe's coach, said that qualification was always open, even though his opponents were ahead in the tie.
"It was difficult to play Petro, a very compact team with strong players. We fought first for a draw, which would have given us qualification, but we ended up winning," he said.
Ndiye said it was now easier to "dream" of the final, but that first he had to think about his semi-final opponent, Egypt's Al Alhy.
WR/MC/DAN/jmc
