Copenhagen manager Jacob Neestrup has fired back at Hearts’ penalty moans and claimed it didn’t really matter anyway.
The Jambos were left fuming on Thursday night when Copenhagen were handed the chance to seal three Europa Conference League points late in the game.
They held a 1-0 lead and were then awarded a penalty after Craig Gordon was deemed to have controversially fouled Amin Chiakha inside the area.
On-field referee Andrea Colombo pointed to the spot after a VAR review and it left Hearts boss Neil Critchley and Gordon in particular feeling extremely aggrieved.
Kevin Diks converted from 12 yards and it put the game out of sight from a Hearts point of view.
Critchley branded the decision ‘really poor’ while Gordon was baffled as to why he wasn’t given a free-kick instead of a foul the other way.
- READ MORE: Hearts ‘offered absolutely nothing’ vs Copenhagen as Neil Critchley’s approach criticised
Jacob Neestrup on controversial Copenhagen penalty
But Neestrup is having none of that and thinks there was clear contact from Gordon. The Copenhagen boss also thinks regardless of the penalty award, his team would have saw out the win.
Neestrup said: “I think it’s a penalty. Amin touched the ball and then the goalie… there’s a collision.
“To be honest, as I said to the Danish journalists, I think it’s ridiculous to talk about that penalty because it was not decisive for the game.
“As the game went on, we would have won that game nine out of 10 times anyway.”
Quality ‘difference’ between Copenhagen & Hearts
“With all respect, I think we have total control of the game from second one to the last second”, added Neestrup.
“We expected maybe that there would be a little bit more bite back, but that’s not a disrespect for Hearts.
“An amazing club, by the way, and a great team, but I just think that we kept ourselves on an extremely high level and showed the difference that has to be between FC Copenhagen and Hearts.
“But do you know what? This game we played today has been exactly the same in our two previous home games against Jagiellonia and Istanbul.
“But for some reason we have only managed to get one point. But it’s actually been exactly the same game picture.
“So we needed those three points today because we have lost five in our two home games before that.”