Botafogo fires at referee after disallowed goal
Botafogo could not digest the 1-0 defeat to Atlético-MG, this Saturday, at Arena MRV, in the 23rd round of the Brasileirão, largely due to the referee’s decision to annul a controversial goal scored by Diego Costa, which would have been the equalizer for the team. Rio club. The board went to coach Bruno Laje’s press conference to criticize the referees’ stance. It even left for the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
“Unfortunately, once again we see a capital error, unacceptable from the refereeing. No matter how much assistant Bruno Raphael Pires tries to explain it to us, with all the politeness, he doesn’t convince us. We had a play against Flamengo in which Marlon’s own goal didn’t it was disallowed even with Bruno Henrique offside. We spoke with the CBF, and today the criteria is different. Today we had a legal goal disallowed, and the explanation is that the defender cares about Diego Costa. You can look at the move several times: Diego Costa is standing still, the defender is marking Janderson and takes the ball away as he had to, and the ball ends up at Diego’s foot, who scores the goal. This is unacceptable. Botafogo will fight until the end in the championship”, said the club’s executive director of football, André Mazzuco.
The director cited the move as a “capital refereeing error”. “I’m here out of respect for the technical management, the players and the fans, but saying that we are tired. Suddenly the people who had to be here were Ramon (Abatti Abel, referee), Guarizo (Rodrigo, VAR) and Bruno (Raphael Pires , assistant) explaining why we always have to come here, show our faces and complain. And it’s sad because the clubs have complained in every round, the clubs go to the CBF, and we see that nothing happens. In every round we go to the CBF and nothing happens. Once again Botafogo is harmed in a capital arbitration error”, he stated.
The chorus was followed by coach Bruno Lage, who indicated that the Brazilian Championship was being manipulated so that there would be excitement until the end. The coach stated that “questionable things” are happening in the last rounds.
“I reinforce my director’s position and I’m going to put my finger on the wound even more. I arrived here two months ago and I feel that there are very different criteria in other types of games. It gives the feeling that you want the championship to remain lively until the end. I’ve seen many moves from other VARs in other games with completely absurd criteria and, however, what happened in the last two games has hurt us. Unfortunately, there have been many mistakes and it’s not just in our games. They are in other games, which in some way it has contributed to the classification remaining balanced. Many dubious things and inexplicable moves have benefited and harmed teams”, said the coach.
Bruno Large guaranteed that he will do whatever it takes to take the club to the Brazilian title. With the second consecutive defeat in the competition, Botafogo saw the advantage over Palmeiras drop to seven points. The next challenge is against Corinthians, on Friday, at 8pm, at Neo Química Arena.
“I just want to reinforce this even more: we have a lot of energy. If we have to be against everything and everyone, we will go against everything and everyone. To beat us, it has to be on equal terms. They could even put us in a potato field that we go with everything. We can’t go against things we don’t control. There has to be greater criteria. It seems like it’s bad for the championship if things were decided too early. That’s what reinforces it: if it’s against everything and everyone, we’ll go against everything and against everyone”, he stated.
Diego Costa still complains on the pitch
On the field, Diego Costa has already shown complete irritation with the referee’s decision to cancel Botafogo’s equalizer. The attacker went to speak to the referee numerous times and did not spare him criticism when asked about the move.
“It’s very clear that it was a legal goal. I think they put their hand into the issue of interpretation. They didn’t even think about it, or look at it much. We know that for the competition to become more attractive, they have to bring Botafogo closer to their opponents”, he said.
