Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan claims he was provoked by ‘derogatory’ words directed at him by Mihai Pintilii following his sending off in Al Ain’s Asian Champions League exit.

The 28-year-old flared up after he was shown a straight red card after a two-footed challenge on the Salem Al Dawsari in Tuesday’s semi final return leg of the AFC Champions League game played in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE giants crashed out of the continental competition despite a 2-1 win over the Al Hilal. The Boss exited the competition on a 4-2 aggregate score line having suffered a 3-0 thrashing in the first leg against the Saudi giants.

The Black Stars captain was involved in some shoving and skirmishes before he angrily headed into the dressing room following his sending off.

Gyan has now accused Pintilii of directing abusive words which could be thought to be racist at him. “The player has no right to tell me what he did,” Gyan said after the game.

“He said something to me which made me upset. He said an abusive word – I really didn’t like it.” “He knows what he said, you can ask him. He knows what he said.”

Gyan is the second Ghanaian player in a space of two days to have made an accusation of the kind.

Defender David Addy was sent off over the weekend after head-butting an opponent in response to an alleged racist comment directed at him.

Al Ain are expected to make a formal complaint to the AFC once they gather all the facts of the case.