INZAGHI ACCUSED IN DIVING ROW

Hapoel Tel-Aviv midfielder Yossi Abuksis has accused AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi of diving after the Italian side qualified for the Uefa Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win at the San Siro.

Hapoel defender Asi Domb was adjudged to have fouled the AC Milan forward only three minutes into the game and Rui Costa scored from the free-kick to level the aggregate score at 1-1.

Hapoel captain Shimon Gershon then scored an own goal to end his team's interest in the Uefa Cup.

The Hapoel players, meanwhile, were incensed not so much by the result but what they perceived as the consistent diving of Inzaghi.

Midfielder Yossi Abuksis said: "The fact that we feel disappointed shows how close we were to reach the semi-finals. But I have to say that I am disappointed with Inzaghi.

"Just like Jaap Stam wrote about the Inzaghi brothers in his book, I could write a whole book tonight following Inzaghi's diving antics," he added, referring to Holland defender Stam's controversial autobiography in which he claimed Inzaghi and his brother Simone were divers.

Hapoel coach Dror Kashtan, meanwhile, summed up the team's remarkable Uefa Cup campaign, in which they have beaten Chelsea and Parma, by saying: "No-one likes to lose but as a coach who has just lost to AC Milan I can say that I'm totally satisfied with our performance.

"I'm so proud to be amongst an unbelievable set of players who showed the rest of Europe what Israeli football is capable of doing.

"The budgets of both sides can never be compared but tonight we played at the highest level in Europe's football shrine in Italy. We conceded two unnecessary goals and even though we scored an own goal in the last minute of the first half we didn't collapse in the second and played better football.

"The fact that my counterpart [Carlo] Ancelotti replaced forwards with defenders in the final minute was a massive compliment for us," he added.

AC Milan go into Friday's semi-final draw together with Borussia Dortmund, Feyenoord and Internazionale.

[Onefootball.com]