Ricardo Ferretti
Doha: Tigres UANL coach Ricardo Ferretti expressed his delight after his Mexican champions shocked Brazilian giants Palmeiras to reach the maiden FIFA Club World Cup final, hoping his team to put another strong show in the title clash on Thursday.
The CONCACAF Champions League winners stunned the Copa Libertadores champions with a second-half penalty by Frenchman Andre-Pierre Gignac that made them first Mexican side to reach the final of the elite inter-continental tournament.
It was a well deserved victory for Ferretti-coached side, which produced a better show then their high-profile Latin American rivals.
“The victory gave us an opportunity to reach the final. We faced two great teams, and the next one will be also a great team, and we will face them in the same way,” Ferretti told beIN Sports channel.
“I feel calm and happy for the win and excited as everyone. I don’t like celebrating before time, we still have to play a game, and the most important one is the next one. Naturally we know how capable will be the team we will face. Now, we have to get ready, the players have to recover physically, but not emotionally because they feel good. We will get ready these days to reach the end goal,” he added.
Meanwhile, Palmeiras head coach Abel Ferreira complained that the penalty decision was “dubious”, suggesting the tug by Luan on Carlos Gonzalez was not sufficient to justify a spot-kick.
“It was not a clear grab although it existed, but this is not basketball, they won a penalty and from there they defended themselves. We had some chances but we couldn’t get it right and I have to say without problems that they were slightly superior and the game is solved with a detail by the experience of a great player,” he said.
“We know we could do better individually. We came here on our own merit, we have a good mix of young and experienced people. But today we have to apologise to our people and assume that our rival was slightly superior in general and, I repeat, the game is resolved by a dubious penalty,” Ferreira added.
