‘Lucky’ ref with old rows gets São Paulo v Atlético-MG in Brasileirão | OneFootball

São Paulo learned the officiating crew that will take charge of the match against Atlético-MG in the Brasileirão, which takes place this Saturday (5), at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time), at Morumbi, for the 26th round of the Brasileirão.

The CBF determined that Santa Catarina native Braulio da Silva Machado, 47, will be the head referee for Tricolor’s match in front of its home crowd. He will be assisted on the field by Thiaggo Americano Labes and Alex dos Santos, both also from Santa Catarina. In charge of the VAR booth will be Rio de Janeiro native Paulo Renato Moreira da Silva Coelho.

As the CBF usually states, the selection of referees is defined taking into account the stages of the competition, the importance and degree of complexity of each match, and the referees’ qualifications, physical condition, and technical performance.

Lucky charm and controversies

Braulio Machado has not officiated any São Paulo match this season, but he has a history of being a ‘good omen’ when working the team’s most recent games. He was the referee for the 2024 Supercopa title against Palmeiras, and also for the 2023 Copa do Brasil final against Flamengo, in which Tricolor ended up as champions—precisely the club’s last two titles.

However, Tricolor supporters should not be mistaken: Bráulio has an authoritarian track record, has even been suspended before, and has accumulated controversies in recent years. In May 2022, the referee was reported by the Sports Justice Prosecutor’s Office for abuse of authority in Bragantino 1–1 Atlético-MG, in the 7th round of that year’s Brasileirão.

On that occasion, the prosecutor’s office understood that the referee exceeded the proper conduct of authority in an incident involving Braga player Ramires. In the same match, he awarded a penalty to Galo and sent off Léo Ortiz of the São Paulo state club. The VAR referees, after a lengthy review, overturned the decision. Bráulio could have been suspended from 15 to 180 days, but he was ultimately cleared of the accusations and was not punished.

Before that, in the 2019 Campeonato Catarinense final, the referee was also involved in a major controversy and was even suspended by the TJD-SC (Sports Court of Justice of Santa Catarina).

The TJD Prosecutor’s Office charged Bráulio da Silva Machado for reporting the pitch invasion by Avaí supporters only after the end of the match (fans had invaded the field before the game ended) and for not recording the result on the match report, thus ignoring the score of the penalty shootout. He was suspended for 60 days and fined R$ 400.00 for omitting the score.

In 2023, Bráulio sparked outrage at different clubs because of his somewhat authoritarian performances in matches in both the Copa do Brasil and the Brazilian Championship. After so many controversies, he stopped officiating such big matches in Brazilian football.

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