Bajevic keeps his silence

AEK Athens coach Dusan Bajevic refused to criticise the referee after decisions went against his side in the 1-1 draw with KRC Genk at the Nikos Goumas stadium in UEFA Champions League Group C on Wednesday.

AEK up against it
AEK can still qualify for the second group stage but would have been in a considerably healthier position had they won, as now they Greek side must beat AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in a fortnight's time to do so after the Italian side stole a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid CF in the group's other fixture.

No surprise
It was no surprise that there was contention as both sides were looking for the long ball over the top, consistently treading a fine offside line. Genk opened the scoring with their first goal of the competition when striker Wesley Sonck calmly slotted past AEK goalkeeper Dionisios Chiotis after he was picked out by attacking partner Takayuki Suzuki.

No criticism
The Japanese international appeared offside but Bajevic was determined not to criticise referee Massimo Busacca. "I will not speak about specific decisions nor will I ever say that the referee is to blame for the fact that we did not win." Busacca also waved on play when striker Themistoklis Nikolaidis claimed he was brought down by goalkeeper Jan Moons, who was the last man, and a Vassilios Lakis effort was dissalowed early on.

Brave face
Bajevic preferred instead to dwell on his team's profligacy and put a brave face on failing to secure the win. "What upsets me is that we had chances but we simply did not finish well enough," he said. "The goals just didn't come. Now we have the same chances to progress as we did before the game. It will be a tough task to win at the Stadio Olimpico but everything is possible in football."

Neat equaliser
AEK, who collected their fifth consecutive draw in the tournament, equalised when Lakis lobbed keeper Moons to give himself time to successfully pick his spot between two defenders.

Game over
It is, however, all over for Genk, whose chances of even grabbing a UEFA Cup spot are extremely slim as they have to beat Madrid team by a wide margin in their last match on 12 November. Coach Sef Vergoosen admitted his side's Champions League campaign has not been all he had hoped. "I would like to thank my players for their commitment but now it will be difficult to achieve our objective – qualification for the UEFA Cup – as we know we're up against Madrid next."

Good account
But the manager maintained that Genk gave a good account of themselves versus AEK. "We started very well, especially in the first half when we controlled the match," he said. "After the break it was more difficult and we were under more pressure and made mistakes. It was nevertheless a game where any result was possible, where either team could have won.”