SIEBE Van der Heyden, the Union Saint-Gilloise defender who gave away a penalty in the Champions League qualifier with Rangers at Ibrox last night, has admitted the home team deserved to be awarded a spot kick.
The Belgian side, who were leading 2-0 from the first leg of the third qualifying round double header in Leuven last week, managed to withstand relentless pressure from their Scottish rivals in the first-half.
But Greek referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos ruled that Van Der Heyden had handled a Borna Barisic cross just before half-time and James Tavernier stepped forward and converted from 12 yards.
Union SG manager Karel Geraerts, whose team were beaten 3-0 at the end of the 90 minutes and 3-2 on aggregate, claimed afterwards the penalty decision was the turning point in the encounter.
But his centre half has confessed that he was at fault and felt responsible for the collapse which the visitors, who will now go into the Europa League group stages, suffered in Govan.
“I tried to head away, but the ball fell unluckily on my arm,” he said. “It's simple - a cross comes from the second zone, I try to clear it, but an arm stays behind me. It's unfortunate.
“You know in advance that mistakes at this level will be punished. I do feel a bit guilty. I now have to be professional, review the images and not let myself be caught on those kinds of mistakes.
“We were well organised. Then we made small individual mistakes. We must learn lessons from this meeting.
“We haven’t been able to take advantage of the mistakes Rangers made – they also had some waste in their game. We could have been a bit sharper, we had a hard time keeping the ball in the team. That could be better.
“At the end, we had chances to score a small goal. We know that at this level, you have to put them in the net."
Van der Heyden denied the Union SG players were intimidated by the atmosphere the match against Rangers was played in at Ibrox.
“We were prepared for that,” he said. ““We were not paralyzed by the atmosphere. We can’t use that as a an excuse. It was the individual faults, the small details that made us lose this second leg against Rangers.
“It is a pity that it turned out this way, we were disappointed in the dressing room. We let something slip out of our hands, but we can also be proud. We did our best, we have gained an experience.
“We are also looking forward to the Europa League. Don’t forget that we come a long way with this group and with the club. We can go to the Europa League with our heads held high: we are going for it.”
