Villas-Boas ACL outburst probed by AFC

Sep 15, 2017 - 6:11 AM The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has begun disciplinary proceedings against Shanghai SIPG coach Andre Villas-Boas for his outburst after the Asian Champions League (ACL) quarter-finals this week.

The Portuguese slammed Asian soccer's governing body despite his team overcoming Guangzhou Evergrande 5-4 on penalties -- having thrown away a 4-0 first leg lead in the second meeting at Tianhe Stadium.

"As a result of comments ... the AFC has opened disciplinary proceedings based on Article 50.1 of the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Code (Bringing the game into disrepute)," an AFC statement said.

"The case will be dealt with by the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee on a date to be confirmed."

Villas-Boas blasted the AFC and match officials, claiming twice former champions Guangzhou were receiving preferential treatment.

The coach also accused Guangzhou of engineering multiple car accidents as the SIPG team bus made its way to to Tianhe Stadium.

"We come here on the bus for this game and the same two cars separately had three accidents in front of us. This is the problem," he said.

"This club can do everything, they can cause accidents in front of us, they have players who can elbow Elkeson and not be suspended and yet we won.

"The referee gave our goalkeeper a yellow card during the penalties and this is a disgrace.

"It's a disgrace.

"This is the greatest achievement for SIPG ever because it's against a club that is dominating the AFC."

SIPG will meet Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds in the ACL semi-finals on September 27 with the return leg three weeks later.

Source: AAP