Beaten Brazilian stars apologise to grief-stricken fans

Abu Dhabi: "Colorado", the diehard fans of SC Internacional, travelled all the way from Brazil hoping to see their South American champion club lift the Fifa Club World Cup for the second time.

However, a shocking 2-0 defeat at the hands of African club champions TP Mazembe on Tuesday left them in tears with even some Brazilian media persons visibly grief stricken during the post-match press conference.

After the match, most of the big names in Internacional including Rafael Sobis, the former Al Jazira star who missed the most number of chances, apologised to the fans.

"What can I say. The ball just did not get into the net. This is football but I really feel sorry for all the supporters who came here," Sobis said.

Midfielder Tinga said: "Not much to say in this situation. It has to apologise to fans who had expected this to us".

Bolivar, who seemed to be responsible when he gave Mulota Kabanga all the time and space to score the opening goal said: "We get very upset about it. It's hard to say".

"We're beaten and it hurts a lot. The other team played very intelligently. Surely it was the defeat that hurt me most. I waited a lifetime to play here, but football is like that. It turns out that," said another Internacional player Pablo Guinazu.

Internacional's Vice-President Fernando Carvalho described the team's dressing room as having the "atmosphere of a wake" following the Brazilian club's untimely dismissal. Carvalho was first out of the dressing room to face the Brazilian press.

He said the opposite had happened to the quarter-final where Mazembe beat Pachuca 1-0, despite the Mexicans having a better game. This time he said: "the reverse happened — today they [Mazembe] played much better and they have earned this result over us. We were bad, really bad and this is justice — Port Alegre must be a sea of tears tonight."

"I am sorry to the large contingent of fans who came here — of course we came to Abu Dhabi for good performances to reach and win the final but unfortunately we could not — now we have one more match [the third place play-off] in which to exit with dignity."