After the defeat against Besiktas (3-2) in the Europa Conference League playoffs on Thursday, Dynamo Kyiv coach Mircea Lucescu made controversial remarks by referring to Besiktas as an “African national team.”
“We played against the African national team, not against Beşiktaş. Gambians, Congolese, Ghanaians, Angolans…” said the former Turkey national team coach between 2017 and 2019, as reported by RMC Sport. Among the Besiktas players targeted by Lucescu are certainly Daniel Amartey, Omar Colley, Arthur Masuaku, and Jackson Muleka, all of whom were in the starting lineup under coach Şenol Güneş.
On social media, Congolese international Masuaku, a Besiktas player, reacted to these comments: “So this statement is also okay, no problem?”
The Dynamo Kyiv coach later added, “It is very difficult to play against them with 11 players trained in the club. They took advantage of the inexperience of our players and scored goals. They are a good team, they made good transfers.”
It’s worth noting that Lucescu also criticized the refereeing of the match, claiming that his team was disadvantaged: “I saw the line on television for our disallowed goal. Our player was not offside. The penalty awarded to Beşiktaş was not given by a referee with common sense. We cannot mock a team.”
