Maradona ends season with another bust-up

Dubai: Diego Maradona slammed Quique Sanchez Flores as "disrespectful" and had nothing to say on evaluation of his first season in charge after his Al Wasl reserve side plummeted to 6-2 defeat to Al Ahli on Saturday. 

Flores had called across to Maradona's dugout midway through the second half to contest a second yellow to one of Diego's players. The Al Wasl coach remained quiet momentarily before a glorious exchange in Spanish ensued. 

After the match Flores said: "I've no problem with Diego. The matter was about a second yellow card to one of Wasl's players. I tried to take care of my players and Maradona tried to take care of his."

But Maradona's take was slightly different. "I don't want to speak about people who are disrespectful," blurted the Argentine, who takes his tally of fallouts to two after crossing Cosmin Olaroiu's path in Al Ain earlier in the season. 

Summing up his first season in charge, Maradona said: "I've nothing much to say. A major factor was the lack of reinforcements. The board knows about this, so this is what we will aim to correct. No-one wants this. The team won't look good, the chairman won't look good and the board and management wont look good, so this is something to work on for next season." 

Struggling for positives, Maradona, who rested his first team for the GCC Champions League semi-final return leg next Tuesday, said: "We experimented with players available to our squad and we'll be meeting with the board to discuss who will be staying and who will not. 

"I think Al Wasl had good control in the first half and all in all it was a good performance for Al Wasl in terms of ball control and possession. Ahli's players were more experienced and relied heavily on long balls to penetrate our defence.

"Some youngsters caught my eye today. The likes of Jaber Abdullah, Fahad Hadded, Khalifa Abdullah and Tariq Hassan were willing to make a mark and will remain with the team if I remain as coach next season after the next round of talks."