Public Relations Officer for Asante Kotoko Kennedy Boakye Ansah has blamed Egyptian referee Ibrahim Nour El-Din for his outfit exit in the 2019/20 CAF Champions League.
According to Kennedy, the Porcupines who had a 2-0 advantage in the first leg were in for serious business against the Tunisia giants but a predetermined result by the referee ensured Kotoko lost the game 3-0 at Monastir to go out of the competition on a 3-2 aggregate.
Speaking after the game, he alleged that Ibrahim Nour El-Din wanted out kicked out of the competition.
"You will realise that the referee had the result in his pocket, the boys were extremely disciplined on the field of play."
"But what broke the boys down was the dubious penalty awarded to Etoile."
"Psychological it actually brought the boys down."
Asante Kotoko crashed out of the CAF Champions League on Sunday, as they were defeated 3-0 by Etoile du Sahel in Monastir in the second leg of the CAF inter club competition.
Goals from Ben Ouanes and a brace from Laaribi Karim either side of the half cemented the victory for the Tunisians as they progressed on a 3-2 aggregate after losing the first leg 2-0 in Kumasi.
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The Ben Ouanes made no mistake from the spot as he beautiful dispatched the ball to open the scoring for his outfit after Justice Blay has been penalised for handling the ball inside the box.
Laaribi Karim scored the second and third goal in the 67th and 7th minute respectively for Etoile du Sahel with two well-placed headers for beyond the reach of Felix Annan to secure victory for his side as they progress to the "Money Zone" of the competition.
The Tunisians played the latter part of the second half with a man down following a red card issued to Saddam Ben Aziza.Â
The result means Kotoko dropped to the CAF Confederation Cup, a competition they played last season and failed to progress beyond the "Money Zone".