Sport director slams refereeing, calls it a farce, mentions Vasco

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Papo na Colina

·3. Oktober 2025

Sport director slams refereeing, calls it a farce, mentions Vasco

The 2-2 draw between Sport and Fluminense at Ilha do Retiro, for the Brazilian Championship, ended with strong criticism of the refereeing. In an interview after the match, Sport’s football director, Enrico Ambrogini, gave a fiery speech and mentioned other clubs, including Vasco, stating that Leão has been systematically harmed.

The outrage was mainly motivated by two incidents involving Fluminense defender Ignácio. In the first half, the defender stepped on Barletta’s ankle and received only a yellow card. In the same play, Martinelli’s goal was disallowed. Then, in the second half, Ignácio was involved in a challenge with Pablo and ended up being brought down by Luan Cândido inside the box, resulting in a penalty for Tricolor.

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Enrico Ambrogini (L) and Thiago Gasparino (R) question Raphael Claus’s decisions — Photo: Marlon Costa/AGIF

Ambrogini did not mince words:

“It feels like we’re being made fools of. It feels like a big joke. Palmeiras here, Vasco there, São Paulo there… We start to suspect other things.”

The director stated that the justification given to the board at halftime—that the stomp had been “unintentional”—angered the Sport supporters even more.

– Let them come here and say it was unintentional. Sit at this table and say that. The one who should have been sent off ends up winning a penalty. That’s a lot of coincidence.

According to him, the sequence of decisions against the club raises suspicions about possible resistance to the club’s project:

– It seems like there’s something against Sport. They don’t want Sport to grow. That’s the outrage.

With the result, Sport reached 15 points, remains in the relegation zone, eight points behind Juventude, the first team outside the Z-4—and now prepares to face Cruzeiro on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. at Mineirão.

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Photo: Marcelo Gonçalves/Fluminense

The match was refereed by Raphael Claus (SP), with VAR assistance from Fabrício Porfírio de Moura (SP) and Dewson Fernando Freitas da Silva (PA). Ambrogini’s speech adds more pressure to the refereeing team, which has been the target of recurring criticism from various clubs in the Brasileirão.

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.