Chief among the former Uruguay midfielder’s many gripes was the forced change of the venue to a stadium two hours away for the first leg in South Korea, which Sydney FC won 2-0, because the pitch at Jeonbuk’s stadium was ruled sub-par.
Poyet, who has coached clubs in England, Greece, France and China, maintained the decision was “really unfair and stupid” and said he was keen to see the quality of the surface at the Sydney Football Stadium for tomorrow’s second leg.
“We’re talking about the other side of football, the side I don’t like,” he told reporters.
“The politics, the decision makers of people who don’t understand football, who don’t have a clue. We pay for it, the fans pay for it, our fans pay for it.
“We had to play because nowadays you can’t fight anything. People in power decide what you have to do,” he added.
“You know how many people watched the first leg? 2,500 in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. It’s not worth it.”
Poyet also railed against the selection of some of the match officials in the competition, the use of VAR, and having to hold today’s pre-match press conference at Sydney FC’s training ground.
“This is the first time I’ve done a press conference away from home in the training ground of the opposite team at any level,” the former Greece coach said.
“Very strange. Normally you do it at the stadium. I don’t know if you do it here in Sydney or Australia, but it doesn’t work like that.”
Poyet, who took over at Jeonbuk last December, conceded that Sydney FC had been worthy winners of the first leg but said the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) needed to improve matters if they wanted the competition to be taken seriously.
“Little things that when they happen too often, it doesn’t look like a normal competition to me,” the former Chelsea and Tottenham midfielder said.
“If you don’t say things, it will happen to another team next year. If the Asian federation wants to play Champions League Two at the highest level, they (need to) pay attention to what they do (and be) fair to the decisions they make, or it’s not worth it to play.
“At the end, you want to play in equal situations and it’s not equal.”
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the AFC.