AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman refused to condemn new signing Panagiotis Tachtsidis for his red card against El Salvador.

Roma last night defeated the El Salvador national team 2-1 in New York.

The game was marred by a late red card that saw Tachtsidis sent off for a reaction foul when headbutted.

"The referee made a bad decision, as it can happen to react badly after being headbutted.

"If I were in his place, I'd have curled up on the floor and cried..." smiled Zeman.