Atlanta United lost in the opening leg of their 2019 Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series, by a chastening 3-0 scoreline.
The Five Stripes struggled to find attacking rhythm all night at Estadio BBVA Bancomer. Of course, some of that was due to the Liga MX opponents meting out foul after foul after foul.
The Rayados racked up 26 fouls to Atlanta's 15 on the night, so both teams were mixing it up, but while referee Ismael Cornejo handed out five yellow cards on the night, only two of those went to Monterrey.
And while you would gather that perhaps Diego Alonso's squad was strategic in spreading the load in terms of fouling the opponent, one player, Monterrey midfielder Carlos Rodriguez, notched a remarkable 10 fouls himself on the night, and yet escaped a yellow or red card altogether from Cornejo.
When asked about the apparent lack of persistent infringement yellow cards handed out, Atlanta head coach Frank de Boer admitted his team was frustrated by the lack of response from the officials.
"You can tell it to the fourth official standing next to me. and we did," De Boer said after the game, as reported on Twitter by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Doug Roberson. "Players recommend to the refs with every free kick and foul against Pity [Martinez]. We don’t influence that. It’s the decision of the ref. We have to concentrate on a good result."
The target Monterrey seemed to hone in on was indeed Martinez, the high-profile player signed in the offseason from River Plate. He suffered a staggering 10 fouls on the night.
Regardless of the outcome or Atlanta's pleas for sanction falling on deaf ears, De Boer's players will have to turn the page and gear up for the second leg, next Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, to play for the chance to overturn the 3-0 deficit and advance to the CCL semifinals.
