Al-Nassr head coach Luis Castro believes his side were hard done by the officiating in their defeat to Al-Hilal in the Riyadh derby.
Al-Hilal condemned title challengers Al-Nassr to their third defeat in the Saudi Pro League this season on Friday evening.
Despite a first-half stalemate, goals from Sergej-Milinkovic Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic after the break secured all three points for Al-Hilal.
The defeat also brought Al-Nassr’s 20-game unbeaten run to a disappointing end as they look to get back to winning ways with a seven-point gap at the top of the league table.
Speaking after the game, Luis Castro talked about his side’s performance and expressed his frustration with the refereeing as his side were denied the leveller in the second half.
“We had problems in the early stages of the game,” Castro said after the game.
“We changed the way we played and the build-up from the back was slow during the first 15 minutes, and these mistakes gave me the feeling that Al-Hilal were going to score first.
“I take full responsibility for today’s defeat, and no player should be blamed for the defeat. Everyone makes mistakes.
“I think the referee did not go to the VAR monitor on any occasion during the game. Their second goal should’ve been disallowed in my opinion because there was a push on Ronaldo.
“Overall, it wasn’t the referee’s best performance and I think the VAR today needed another VAR to monitor their decisions,” he added.