Al-Hilal coach sacked over referee row

Al-Hilal have fired coach Paulo Campos as a result of his behaviour in Sunday’s 2-1 CAF Champions League loss to Vita Club.

The Sudanese side fell to defeat in their latest group game courtesy of a penalty from Tady Etekiama deep into stoppage time.

Enraged by the decision to award Vita Club a spot-kick, Campos ran onto the pitch and allegedly attempted to assault the match officials before being restrained by police.

In a statement on the club’s Facebook page, Al-Hilal secretary general Emad Al-Tayeb said: “The board decided to terminate the contract of coach Campos and he has been informed of his release.

“The coach is supposed to be an instructor and should behave in an acceptable way. He did the opposite when he ran towards the referee, followed by players who see him as a role model, until he was stopped by the police.

“This action will have severe consequences on Al Hilal and that is why we terminated his contract and his assistant Al-Tag Mahgoub will be in charge of our next game against TP Mazembe.

“We also filed an official complaint to the CAF (Confederation of African Football) regarding the actions of the referee and the [amount of] stoppage time.”

Al-Hilal currently lie third in Group A of the Champions League, three points behind Vita Club and TP Mazembe with two games remaining.