Tigres UANL head coach Ricardo Ferretti has heaped praise on Djimi Traore for his part in Seattle Sounders' CONCACAF Champions League win on Tuesday.
The Sounders defeated Tigres 3-1 in the quarter-final second leg to advance 3-2 on aggregate with former Liverpool defender Traore producing a special goal to give Seattle a 2-1 lead in the 60th minute.
As well as his positive words regarding Traore's goal, Ferretti was very critical of the referee who sent Manuel Viniegra from the pitch just before half-time and allowed play to go ahead of Seattle's third goal scored by Eddie Johnson with 15 minutes left.
"There were three factors that caused us to no longer be in the CONCACAF," he said. "The first one was the red card obviously. But it was deserved because it was the second molestation - it was a real foul there.
"The second was two very good goals, especially the second one (Traore's goal). I even applauded because it was very impressive.
"The third reason was how bad the referee was. He allowed the opposing team to be too aggressive against us. He let go many of those fouls that should've been punished. I don't want to take away anything from Seattle's victory. They didn't need this kind of help, but playing against 12 is harder than usual."