Ruslan Rotan, head coach of Oleksandriya after yesterday's away match between his team and Poltava Vorskla (0:1), spoke on the topic of refereeing in Ukrainian football.
"The defeat is accepted, but I believe that the score is not on the game. We clearly did not deserve this defeat. I congratulate "Vorskla" with the victory. I believe that this match would have been brighter if our expensive refereeing did not get into the game and worked at least equally towards both teams.
I believe that there was a penalty in the goal of "Alexandria" - there is no doubt. But there was also a penalty in the goal of Vorskla. If you are consistent, you have to do your job. When the referee is five metres away from the episode, when he hears this sound, which the whole stadium heard, but he, excuse me, something flew into his ear and he does not hear it anymore.
So this is a problem for Ukrainian football. I repeat: our country will not score points on the Euro arena if football will be owned by these guys with whistles. Let's start football with teams so that there is pleasure. Let's play football and pull our football so that we would be able to play in European cups, so that we would score points there.
And if all this will be repeated from match to match, if our football is still owned by referees, it will become a problem of our football, a problem of our future. Sorry for the emotions, but I want everything to be consistent. You understand, when a real professional, a football player, goes out on the football field, he does his job, strives to realise what the coaching staff asks of him. Players of both teams are fighting for the result, you understand? And there is consistency. If you go out to referee a match, you have to be consistent. If it is a penalty, it is a penalty, as it was in our goal. If it is a penalty against the other team, it is also a penalty. Yes, you may not see some episode, but you can hear it," Rotan said at a press conference after the match with Vorskla.