The first leg of the AFC Champions League 2023-24 Round of 16 tie looked set to end in a 1-1 stalemate but Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal took full advantage of Daneshgar's sending off to strike twice in added time to take a hefty lead going into next week's rematch in Riyadh.
“The only weakness we had was the red card. I did not see any other weaknesses. Defensive organization is our main strength but I must say conceding the second goal was a surprise as we were defending with nine players to Al Hilal's five,” said Morais.
“We played against a very good team. With one less player, we will definitely face challenges. We suffered and sacrificed ourselves. Sometimes we didn't make the right decisions, but we played a good game before the dismissal,” he added.
“We had many chances but we didn't score, but it's not over yet,” the Portuguese coach added.