Clermont Foot coach Pascal Gastien says his side suffered their massive 4-0 defeat to Lille because of Ghanaian midfielder Salis Abdul Samed’s read card.
The Ghanaian midfielder was sent off in the 68th minute after picking up a second yellow card for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
At the time Lille were leading by a lone goal but Clermont were in control of the game and looked likely to score.
His expulsion affected Clermont as they capitulated and conceded three goals in the last 20 minutes to suffer their 13th defeat of the season.
“[Samed’s] Exclusion was the turning point of the game. Before this expulsion, we dominated, we were closer to an equalizer on our part than a break for Lille. We had taken over, it’s a shame,” Gastien said.
“The only regret is our start to the match. We lacked determination and aggressiveness from the start. We have to do much better at the start of the match. Apart from the exclusion, we were relatively solid, but we lost 4 -0 anyway … At 11 against 11, we have a good match.”
Samed is ruled out of Clermont’s next game which is against Lorient on Sunday.
He was included in the Ghana’s preliminary 2021 Africa Cup of Nations squad. He did not make the final list owing to the reluctance of Clermont to sanction his release for the tournament over fitness concerns.
Samed has made 25 league appearances this season.
