6 Nov 2014

Wanderers dismiss complaints

11:57 am on 6 November 2014

The Western Sydney Wanderers have dismissed Al-Hilal's call for an investigation into the Asian Champions League football final, saying it's of no interest to the champions.

The rich Saudi Arabian club launched a stinging tirade against the refereeing in the two-leg final, which was won 1-0 on aggregate by the Wanderers, claiming it was denied six penalties.

They claimed the integrity of the competition and the reputation of the Asian Football Confederation had been tarnished and called on the Asian Football Confederation to investigate.

But Wanderers coach Tony Popovic is unfazed saying they were the rightful Asian champions.

Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic says they're rightfully the winners of the Asian Champions League.

Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic says they're rightfully the winners of the Asian Champions League. Photo: Photosport

"When you lose, some teams and some clubs take it differently," Popovic told Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast.

"That's been their approach and it's of no interest to us.

"We're not really concerned by their words at the moment. We're the champions, we've earnt that. We played them over two matches, 180 minutes and we were the better team over the two games."

After a 26,000-kilometre round trip to Riyadh for the second leg of the ACL final on the weekend, the Wanderers have plenty more on their plate with a testing travel schedule over the next fortnight.

They play the Phoenix in Wellington on Friday night before then heading to Perth for next weekend's away fixture against Perth Glory.

Western Sydney are so far winless in the current A-League season.

"It's not what we needed but in some ways it's a good thing," Popovic says of the approximately 32,000 kilometres the side will travel in the space of two weeks.