The game between Red Bul Bragantino and São Paulo in the quarter-finals of the Campeonato Paulista this Saturday (21), in Bragança Paulista, was marked by misogynistic statements from defender Gustavo Marques addressed to referee Daiane Muniz after the match.
Scorer of the goal for the team from the interior of São Paulo in the home team’s 2-1 defeat, Marques criticized the referee’s work, attributing supposed errors during the match to the fact that she was a woman. After the negative repercussion of his statements, the athlete apologized.
“Firstly, I want to talk about the refereeing. Because there’s no point in us playing against São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians and them putting a woman to referee a game of this size. I think she wasn’t honest”, said Marques in an interview with TNT Sports after the match while still on the pitch.
“We work every day, leave our family at home, so they can come and end our dream. It was our dream to reach the semi-finals”, added the defender.
According to him, Daiane made mistakes in decisions that harmed Bragantino since “the game started”, without adopting the same criteria for both teams.
Having spent time at América-MG and Benfica, the 24-year-old player also said that the FPF (São Paulo Football Federation) should not “put a woman” to referee important state games.
Upon leaving the changing rooms, Marques stated in an interview with journalists that he had already sought out Daiane to apologize for the statements.
“I’m here to ask for forgiveness from all the women in the world, in Brazil. I said things I shouldn’t have said at that moment,” said the defender. “I feel bad, I’m sad. My wife has already cursed me, my mother has already cursed me. Every human being makes mistakes. I’m here to ask forgiveness for all women.”
He added that Daiane accepted the apology. “She just said to be more careful with your words, because there are women who won’t accept it.”
Scorer of São Paulo’s second goal, attacking midfielder Lucas Moura defended the work of the Brazilian referees and asked for greater cooperation from the athletes during the matches.
“This is kind of boring, it’s repetitive. Every time, when a game ends, the team that loses ends up complaining about the refereeing. The team that won also has a lot to complain about the refereeing. But I think we have to help the refereeing more. We complain a lot, we talk a lot on the field, we get in the way too much”, said the Tricolor player.
“She makes mistakes and hits for both sides, all games are like that, she will make mistakes and hits for both sides. So, it was a very competitive, hard-fought game, also difficult for the refereeing. I don’t think we can talk about it anymore”, added Lucas.
