CBF removes referee who scored non-existent penalty

The CBF Arbitration Commission did not wait even 12 hours to remove the referee Paulo Roberto Alves Júnior, from the Paraná federationwhich on Wednesday night (8) whistled the confrontation between Tombense and Retrô, in the second phase of the Brazil’s Cup.

In the final stretch of the match, Paulo Roberto signaled a non-existent penalty in favor of the Minas Gerais team. At that point, the match was tied and the penalty ended up resulting in the goal that classified Tombense.

The move took place in the 35th minute of the second half. The ball was left inside the area and three Tombense players try to reach it. Two of them end up colliding and one goes to the ground. No Retrô player hits any of the opponents, but the referee still signaled the penalty. As there is no video referee at this stage of the Copa do Brasil, the bid was not revised.

With the wrong marking of the penalty, the players of the Pernambuco team revolted and complained a lot. Two of them received a yellow card. The game was stopped for more than three minutes. At the penalty kick, Jean saved Alex Sandro’s shot, but on the rebound Alex Sandro himself scored the goal that classified Tombense.

In addition to being eliminated from the competition, Retrô suffered a millionaire loss with the referee’s error. This is because qualifying for the next stage of the competition would yield a prize pool of R$ 2.1 million, guaranteed by the regulations of the Copa do Brasil.

Early this Thursday morning (9), the CBF Arbitration Commission issued a note informing that “the referee Paulo Roberto Alves Júnior was included in the Arbitration Performance Assistance Program (Pada)”. Pada is what referees’ “retraining” activities are currently called. During this period, Paulo Roberto will not be scheduled for games”.