Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Yousef has launched a scathing attack on Orlando Pirates following pre-match drama that saw Amakhosi players abandon their warm-up sessions.
The Glamour Boys clashed with arch-rivals Pirates in the Betway Premiership at FNB Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with both sides gunning for maximum points and Soweto Derby bragging rights.
Chiefs and Pirates played out a 1-1 draw, sharing the spoils in front of a sold-out crowd after Pule Mmodi opened the scoring for the Naturena-based side, with Kamogelo Sebelebele equalising for the Sea Robbers.
The draw saw Pirates dropping crucial points in the league title race, missing a big opportunity to open a gap on Mamelodi Sundowns. Pirates remained at the summit of the log standings with 59 points, having won 18 games, five draws, and only three defeats in 26 games.
On the other hand, Chiefs are occupying a third place on the table, having collected 47 points, and they are on course to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup next season.
WHAT KHALIL BEN YOUSSEF SAID ABOUT THE PRE-MATCH DRAMA
The Soweto Derby was plunged into controversy before a ball was even kicked this weekend, as a violent physical altercation between officials and Bucs security overshadowed the pre-match build-up.
What was meant to be a standard warm-up routine turned into a battlefield requiring police intervention to restore order. The intrusion sparked a massive brawl directly in the Amakhosi warm-up zone, occurring while the Pirates players continued their drills on the opposite end of the pitch.
The severity of the disruption left the Chiefs’ technical team with little choice but to pull their players off the field. Amakhosi were forced to end their warm-up prematurely and retreat to the sanctuary of the dressing room to regroup before the scheduled kick-off.
While the specific trigger for the confrontation remains unclear, Chiefs co-coach Ben Youseff did not mince words following the incident. A furious Youseff slammed the Buccaneers for the brawl, suggesting the provocation was a calculated tactic.
“Before I start to talk about the game, I have to send a small message. I’m not from South Africa, but I know how many people watched the game. I received many calls from people asking where they can watch the game,” Khalil Ben Youssef said.
“I think what happened before the game is something that we can’t accept. We are sending a bad picture of our football, but what we saw before the game, we can’t accept. People are waiting to see the football… I think if you want to win the league, you have to beat the teams and win with football, not like that.
“It’s about safety, we spoke about safety, people from outside came to fight our players in our own half, I think this kind of thing is a shame. We can’t accept this kind of situation. Like I said, if you want to win the league, win it with football and then people will say you deserve to win the league. Not like that you can win the league.
“About the game… we tried in the first half just to contain Pirates, and I think it was more of a battle in the first half, a physical battle. I think we performed very well because, after what happened before the game, the players showed character. It didn’t disturb us, and we focused on the game.
“…I think we deserved to win the game, unfortunately, in this kind of game, if you make a small mistake, you play cash. Today, I think we made one mistake and conceded the goal. But I’m so happy with the players’ performance; even those who weren’t in the team came in and performed well.
“I’m not happy about the result. I think we deserved to win the game.”
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