Fatih Terim unimpressed by foreign referee: 'No need to pay to bring them in'

In the Greek Super League play-offs, Panathinaikos, managed by Fatih Terim, was defeated 3-0 away by league leaders AEK.

Turkish national team player Samet Akaydin started the match for Panathinaikos. Akaydin, who remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, made a mistake that left its mark on the match.

Panathinaikos manager Fatih Terim criticized the referee's decisions during the press conference held after the 3-0 loss to AEK.

Stating that they did not play well today, Terim said, "Let me start by congratulating our opponent. They played well and deserved to win. We conceded an early goal and lost our balance. If there is a debatable issue, it is the penalty position involving Kotsiras. If that penalty had been awarded, we could have gotten back into the game. When referees come to this pitch, they treat us a bit strangely. We did not play with a high-quality referee. This, of course, does not mean that AEK did not deserve to win the match. They played better than us. I repeat, if it had been 1-1 with the penalty, we might have been saying different things. We made the opponent's job easier, gave them enough space, and lost enough balls in the center. I didn't think we could turn the score around during the match. We couldn't play well."

"NO NEED TO PAY TO BRING IN REFEREES"

Reacting to the foreign referee practice implemented in Greece, Terim stated, "Now you are asking us, and we are talking about the game. As a reporter, you have the right to tell us whether we played well or not. The only person who is not affected and does not care is the referee. We didn't lose because of a penalty, yes, but VAR didn't say anything either. Then they come and give us a yellow card. How can we respect a referee like this? Even if we had scored from a penalty, we might still have lost. He wants to be respected, but you are not a man to be respected! Is it worth the expense to bring in a referee like this from France!"

Finally, stating that they will not give up on the championship, Terim said, "We have no intention of giving up until the final whistle. If we have a chance, we will continue until the end. We were defeated today, but nothing is over. On paper, we have lost a big advantage. We will follow it until the end."

News Source: 12punto