Diakite's foul against Quang Hải inside the box and conceded a penalty which led to the opening goal of Nguyễn Văn Quyết. Photo VOH.com.vn

HCM CITY — Senegalese defender Pape Diakite of HCM City FC slammed refereeing decisions and accused star national team midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải of diving in the V.League 1 over the weekend on his Facebook page.

City faced the Ha Noi FC on Saturday and after a tight game, the turning point came in the 67th minute after Diakite was adjudged to have fouled Hải inside the box and conceded a penalty which was scored by Nguyễn Văn Quyết.

Hà Nội sealed the win with a goal from Hải in the 86th minute.

HCM City's coach Chung Hae-seong and the players expressed dissatisfaction with the referee’s decisions and Chung didn’t attend the press conference after the match.

“Quang Hải is an excellent actor. When I tackled the ball, he purposely touched me with his foot and fell down to get a penalty. Ha Noi was having difficulties scoring goals so they needed a penalty," Diakite wrote on Facebook on Monday.

“It was certainly not a foul, even a few Hà Nội players have admitted that wasn’t a penalty," he added.

Diakite also expressed with referee Nguyễn Mạnh Hải, saying that Hà Nội are overprotected by referees in the V.League 1.

“I was not surprised when the referee gave them the penalty, I predicted before that the ref will do something to benefit Hà Nội. So when they got a penalty, I didn't even bother to explain.

“Without any bitterness, I say these things as a professional player. In the V.League 1, Hà Nội are overly protected by the referee.

“The ref gave us seven yellow cards, although we didn’t commit that many fouls. Meanwhile, Hà Nội only received one yellow card.

"I hope that when they have the opportunity to play outside of Việt Nam, they will understand how fierce the other tournaments are.

"I respect Ha Noi FC and their players, but they have to understand that if you want Vietnamese football to develop, everything must be fair.

"This may make some people unhappy, but the truth still needs to be spoken."

Speaking after the match but before Diakite's comments, Ha Noi FC coach Chu Đình Nghiêm said he hadn't seen the incident in question.

"At that time I did not see it because I was reminding Minh Dĩ and Omar to prepare to come one," he told the media. VNS