ENPPI chief questions Mohamed Barakat red card after Al Ahly defeat

Ayman El-Sharif, president of ENPPI, has criticised referee Mahmoud Nagi’s report after manager Mohamed Barakat was sent off during his side’s 3-2 defeat by Al Ahly in the opening round of the Egyptian Premier League.

Barakat was dismissed in added time, with Nagi reportedly stating that the red card was shown for “unsporting behaviour”. El-Sharif said he could accept the penalty awarded to Al Ahly in good faith, but described the explanation given for Barakat’s dismissal as “strange”.

“I congratulate Essam Abdel Fattah on becoming chairman of the referees’ committee. I am one of the club presidents who have always supported Egyptian referees, even when I have been wronged and even when it has cost me defeats, as happened to us yesterday against Al Ahly,” El-Sharif told On Sport FM.

“The decision to award Al Ahly a penalty had already been made and there are different opinions about it. I always adhere to the principle of good faith, especially because the referee awarded the penalty and the video assistant referee did not ask him to review it.”

El-Sharif said his main concern was not the penalty itself, but the disciplinary report relating to Barakat.

“My bigger problem than Al Ahly’s penalty is the sending-off of Mohamed Barakat, which was described in a strange report by the match referee,” he said.

“During a conversation with Mahmoud Nagi about an incident in added time, Barakat told the assistant referee, ‘You do not understand the law.’”

The incident followed a stoppage involving ENPPI player Mohamed Essam. According to El-Sharif, Nagi instructed the player to leave the pitch and said he could return only at the next stoppage in play, while Barakat argued that the fourth official had told him the player could come back after one minute.

“There are 10 amendments in the new refereeing law, and whenever a new law is introduced there are always controversial situations,” El-Sharif said.

“What happened in the Al Ahly match was that Mohamed Essam fell on the pitch, and Mahmoud Nagi asked him to leave and not come back until the first stoppage. Mohamed Barakat said the fourth official had told him that he could return after one minute.”

El-Sharif argued that the rule was intended to prevent deliberate time-wasting, something he said did not apply to ENPPI’s situation.

“This situation is applied when the referee feels that a player is wasting time. It happened after we conceded the third goal, when we were looking for an equaliser, so how could our player have been wasting time?” he said.

He also warned that the wording of Nagi’s report could have serious consequences for Barakat.

“My problem with Mahmoud Nagi’s report is that he described Mohamed Barakat’s sending-off for saying, ‘You do not understand the law’, as unsporting behaviour. That could cost us a four-match suspension,” El-Sharif added.

The victory was Al Ahly’s second in a row against ENPPI, ending a run of five consecutive meetings in all competitions without a win against their opponents.

It was Hussein Ammouta’s first match as Al Ahly manager. His team recovered from falling two goals behind to complete the comeback and join the early league leaders.

Al Ahly will face ZED on Friday in the second round of the Egyptian Premier League, while ENPPI will host Wadi Degla on the same day.