Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan was sent off in Al Ain’s ASF Champions League game on Tuesday night.

Gyan reacted angrily to comments from Mihai Pintilii of Romanian before making his exit from the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium despite accepting his two-footed challenge deserved the red card.

The reaction also sparked shoving and tussle between both sets of player and some strong exchange of words.

Asamoah Gyan explained his reaction after the game saying:

“The player has no right to tell me what he did. He said something to me which made me upset. He said an abusive word. I really didn’t like it.”

When Gyan was asked if Mihai Pintillii’s comments were racist, he answered:

“He knows what he said, you can ask him. He knows what he said.”

The Black Stars player also accepted his tackle was harsh but had no intention of going for the player. Gyan continued:

“I must confess it was a harsh tackle. But in my mind I did not go for the player, I just went in strong for the ball. I am a professional.

“The referee took his decision. It is football so I cannot complain. I lost my head a bit, but life goes on.”

Al Ain were eliminated from the semi-final stage of the competition despite winning 2-1 at home with ten men on Tuesday night. The 4-2 aggregate score line qualified Al Hilal to the final.