The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) released this Thursday (9) the VAR audio of the match between São Paulo and Palmeiras that ended with Abel Ferreira’s team winning 3-2.
The game was marked by the failure to award a penalty in favor of the tricolor team.
The move occurred nine minutes into the second half, when the game was still 2-0 for São Paulo. Midfielder Allan slipped on the field and brought down Chilean striker Gonzalo Tapia inside the area. Referee Ramon Abatti Abel understood that it was a normal shock and ordered the game to continue, without VAR Ilbert Estevam da Silva calling him for an image check.
The refereeing duo ended up being removed by the CBF to undergo training before returning to officiating matches in the Brazilian Championship.
“It slipped, it slipped. The player slips, they are both looking at the ball, he can follow,” said Ramon.
“We have the Palmeiras player who slips and he has contact with his opponent, completely accidental, caused precisely by that slip”, confirmed Estevam da Silva.
The VAR judge added that the ball was leaving the area, and was not under the control of any of the athletes.
“It’s a game clash. It’s not an entry [faltosa]”, stated Abatti Abel.
Shortly after this move, Andreas Pereira committed a very harsh foul on Marcos Antônio, hitting the opponent with the sole of his boot just above the ankle line.
In this case, the referee pointed out that the Palmeiras athlete rolled his foot over the ball before the collision, which made the application of just a yellow card correct.
Abatti Abel even made an outburst when the São Paulo team asked Palmeiras for a red card. After striker Luciano asks “what do you want me to do, shut up?”, the referee responds. “Ah, Luciano, please. You complain about being born, impressive.”
“Do you see how complex it is to referee Brazilian football? There’s no peace. It’s difficult, right?”, said the referee.
The CBF initially stated that, as the moves were not for review, the audio of the conversation between the referees would not be published. São Paulo, however, demanded that the entity publish the audios.
“There is a protocol not to provide audio when the VAR does not call the field referee to the monitor. President [da CBF, Samir Xaud]let’s break protocol. We need the audio to imagine what happened. If there was, what kind of dialogue took place between the VAR booth and the field referee?” asked the club’s president, Julio Casares.
“We will recognize with the release of this VAR audio that our refereeing is reaching rock bottom and that showing this audio is the beginning of a change”, added the director.
Under pressure, the CBF asked FIFA to release the audio, receiving approval from football’s highest entity on Wednesday (8).
“Since the beginning of our administration, we have been working on structural problems in Brazilian football, addressing issues that have demanded changes for decades. We have already announced the new men’s football calendar, we are finalizing the women’s football calendar and next month we will publish the financial fair play rules. Arbitration is among these priorities. We are now expanding the dissemination of audios, in the name of transparency”, declared the president of the CBF, Samir Xaud.
“We always consult FIFA on issues that are outside the routine: rules, resolutions, protocols or determinations by Ifab (International Football Association Board)/FIFA itself. In this consultation we argued that presenting high-impact checks, even without the referee going to the booth, would reinforce the integrity of our competitions. We received the release, for instruction and transparency purposes”, he stated Rodrigo Cintra, president of the arbitration committee.
