Samuel Xavier slams ref as Pereira escapes red card: "Yellow's wrong"

In partnership with

Saudações Tricolores.com

·9 November 2025

Samuel Xavier slams ref as Pereira escapes red card: "Yellow's wrong"

After the end of the first half, Samuel Xavier gave an interview to TV Globo and launched harsh criticisms at the match referee. The first half ended amid a major controversy where Matheus Pereira struck Facundo Bernal's face with his elbow, leaving the player bleeding heavily on the ground. The match referee, Rodrigo José Pereira de Lima, even reviewed the incident on VAR and chose not to give a card to the Cruzeiro midfielder.

“The big screen showed everyone watching, all over Brazil, all the fans, everyone saw that this incident, if he got it wrong, if he gave a yellow card, he was wrong. And he should have sent off Matheus, because he already had a yellow. He would already be wrong having a yellow, because that should be a direct expulsion, a straight red card. But then, we will talk again, we are tired of talking about refereeing, but we shouldn't get tired of talking about refereeing. If it's wrong, we have to speak up, because when Samuel makes a mistake, or any other player makes a mistake, we are held accountable by a fan, wherever we go, restaurant, we are held accountable. They are not held accountable, as they should be, for God's sake. We need to have wisdom about this, the player is held accountable when he makes a mistake, who holds the referee accountable? The CBF, they go there, have a meeting among themselves, he stays hidden, and no one says anything. How long will this continue to be wrong? We need to change this, for a better Brazil, for better Brazilian football, people,” stated Samuel Xavier.

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